


Waving Through a Window

by magicianparrish



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: AU-Canon divergence, Adam was killed instead of Noah for the sacrifice, All canon relationships are endgame, F/M, M/M, and will develop into other chapters, going into Raven Boys, pre-raven boys, this is just a whole mess tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 08:09:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11287176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicianparrish/pseuds/magicianparrish
Summary: An au-divergence where instead of having Noah killed by Whelk to wake the ley line, Adam was instead. So where Adam is the ghost, and Noah lives.First chapter takes place pre-raven boys and going into Raven Boys.





	Waving Through a Window

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a crazy whirlwind of four days of constant writing. The idea had been stuck in my head for ages and had been driving me insane. So I finally decided to write it all down. And surprisingly, the switch up fit pretty well into the canon, without changing a whole lot. 
> 
> Some scenes are taken directly from the Raven Boys, so if that is why dialogue and scenes sound familiar, it's because the wonderful Maggie Stiefvater came up with it, and I just borrowed it for story purposes. Of course, there are some changes in some scenes, but really, they're so small it doesn't really matter all too much. So shout out to her for creating these awesome characters and letting me borrow them. I hope I did them justice when I wrote my original pieces in the story. Really, I do. 
> 
> Warnings are in the tags and rating of the story. Read at your own risk, please. And there are so many grammatical mistakes, I can already tell. But bear with it. And I hope you enjoy! I loved writing this.

“ _ Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts...perhaps the fear of a loss of power.”  _

 

Whelk happened upon that quote somewhere, he couldn’t possibly remember how he came across it at this point, but he hated how much it was relevant to his life. He had lost everything thanks to his parents' poor choices in how they went about business; his car, his girlfriends, he was kicked out of his Aglionby dorm room and was only secretly staying there because Czerny was his best friend and former roommate who felt immensely bad for the situation. He lost all his fortune, only have ten dollars to his name thanks to his wallet, and with that, he lost his prestige and power he had over the school with it. 

He sat in the middle of his old dorm, with maps of ley lines crisscrossing across Virginia and the surrounding areas. Czerny’s loopy handwriting in red ink was all over the paper, making his own little annotations, and stupid doodles, with Whelks in black next to or over. The ley line hunt was all fun and games to the two of them; something they did in their free time just because it was interesting. It got them off campus and to see new things, and explore new ideas of magic and power that came if awoken. 

But as the weeks went by that Whelk went without his fortune, the idea came to him that maybe the magic was real; ley lines could be real. Czerny and he had discovered the sacrifice needed to wake the power but came to a stalemate on what exactly it entailed. 

He had fallen so far down the hierarchy, that fellow students were comparing him to Poor Boy Parrish of all people; the scholarship kid who lived in a fucking  _ trailer park  _ on the edge of town. To even be considered in the same tier as he was the ultimate burn wound to his ego. Even he probably had more money than Whelk, and that left the most bitter taste in his mouth. 

Whelk needed that power. He needed his old life back, and he was willing to do anything to get it. 

He stood up from the floor and walked over to the little bathroom in the dorm. Czerny was probably experimenting with glitter in there or something. He knocked on the door. 

“Czerny, can I borrow your keys?” he asked through the door. 

The muffled sound of Blink-182 was lowered as Czerny responded, “where you going?” 

“Out for air.” 

A beat of silence followed as his best friend mulled over his answer. 

“Sure, don’t do anything stupid. Keys are on the dresser, or in my pants pocket. Check both.” 

Czerny was always such a pushover, Whelk thought as he snatched the keys from the dresser and walked out of the dorm and the building to the red Mustang that belonged to his best friend. 

He quickly pulled out of the parking lot and off campus and drove to the Forest him and Czerny had discovered a few weeks back by accident. It was a little out of the way from Henrietta and seemed to come from nowhere but expand forever. Something had felt powerful when they saw it for the first time. 

Since it was closing in on summer, the days were getting longer and the temperatures were heating up. He cranked the window down of the Mustang and flicked through different radio stations to find a song he liked playing. As he drove down the road that led to the forest, he thought of how he could wake the line, and what kind of sacrifice was needed. Whelk figured it would be something powerful too, not some half-assed thing. But he went by himself and had no one to help brainstorm with. 

I should’ve brought Czerny along with me, he thought, chastising himself for his short-sighted stupidity. 

As he pulled off the side of the road and onto the dirt path that leads to the clearing, he noticed another car was there as well. It was a blue pick-up truck that was rusting badly on the edges, and leaning against a tree was a worn out bike. 

Whelk parked the car and walked over to the truck, peering into the window to see if anyone was in there. There was a Coke bottle half drunken in the cupholder and a lot of cigarette buds in the other, but no one. He found it a curious sight because as far as he knew, no one beside him and Czerny knew about this place. 

He walked away from the truck and bike and made his way to the clearing him and Czerny had found. The trees were swaying, and the canopy was dark, barely allowing any of the setting sun rays inside creating shadows that seemed ominous. Going in alone was a lot more creepy than with someone else. 

Suddenly, a gunshot rung out into the silence. Whelk nearly jumped out of his skin, whipping around behind him. His heart was beating a million miles a minute, and then another  _ BANG!  _ Erupted. 

Whelk started running towards where he heard the noise come from. The trees started to sway even more now, creating loud rustlings of leaves, like they were distressed at the gun shots too. Whelk shook his head at the idea of trees having feelings, and continued to run. 

Finally, he burst through to a clearing and found he was by where the bike and truck were located. Even though he could’ve sworn he hadn’t run back to where he came from. On the grass, twitching and in a pool of his own blood was Adam Parrish himself. Whelk walked over to him and stood above blocking the sun from his face. 

His blue eyes were wide in shock, and blood was seeping from the wound and his hand which was covering it. His face was pinched in pain, and he was gasping shallowly for breath. 

“Parrish, the hell are you doing here?” Whelk said. 

Parrish of all people, finding his forest. Parrish, who was the scholarship kid, who lived in the dirt, and who people were now comparing Whelk to. He felt a surge of anger flood through him, the audacity of the former king of Aglionby being compared to the dirt of Parrish. 

“Whelk,” Parrish gasped out, “help me.” His voice was thick with his Henrietta accent.

Suddenly, Whelk had an idea on how to wake the ley line. He looked to the right of Parrish, and found a rock and picked it up. It was covered in blood splatters, and he loomed over Parrish again. He raised the rock above his head and smashed it over Parrish’s face. Blood splattered all over his face and hands, getting in his mouth, but he smashed it again, causing Parrish to convulse until he finally stopped moving. 

It was like watching his life leave him in slow motion. Whelk dropped the rock into the pool of blood that surrounded the two of them. He was heaving breaths, adrenaline pumping through his body, while Parrish lay completely still, his face broken beyond recognition. It was such a graphic scene, Whelk jumped to his feet and vomited into a bush. He felt no different than he had before. The sacrifice didn’t work. He was still powerless, and poor, and now he was a murderer, of the kid who he used to make fun of. 

“Fuck,” he breathed out, wiping at his mouth. 

He took the rock and threw it as far as he could into the forest, to get rid of the murder weapon from the scene. Not that anyone would find the body; he didn’t plan on calling the police, and whoever had shot him before he came, obviously felt the same way by fleeing the scene. 

Whelk then ran back into the clearing where the old bike that belonged to Adam Parrish, and the red Mustang still were. He looked down at the blood covering his hands and cursed again. He had to get that off. He sat down and drove to the river where the crew team rowed every morning and washed his hands in the water, and cleaned up the steering wheel that was also covered in Adam Parrish’s blood. Hoping it would be a good enough job that Czerny wouldn’t notice anything.

* * *

The first time Gansey strolled into Henrietta, Virginia, he knew it was going to be special. He had just come home from his excursion in Wales, and his father had sat him down about where he would be attending school the upcoming fall for his freshman year of high school. School was a thing that Gansey didn’t particularly care for; he knew the importance of education, and in fact, thrived in an academic environment, but his search for Glendower was much more important to him. Glendower came first in his priorities, and then school came in second. But his father had suggested Aglionby Academy, in rural Virginia, just bordering on West Virginia and Appalachia. And the little town of Henrietta seemed to fall right onto a ley line, which bought Gansey’s immediate attention and approval.

He soon met Ronan Lynch, the middle son of Niall and Aurora, a family of new found wealth that was a different kind of money than Gansey had been born into. Ronan and Gansey made the most unusual of friends, being almost polar opposites of each other, but finding solace and companionship in each other nonetheless. Gansey and Ronan had gotten their learner’s permits and would practice in secret in Gansey’s recently purchased 1973 Camaro. 

Ronan had helped Gansey clear out the abandoned factory of Monmouth Manufacturing, the property Gansey had also obtained and bought and lived in instead of the dorms provided at Aglionby. 

It was large, and it was old and hollowed out by years of abandonment. Ronan shouted his name into the clearing to hear how much it would echo back, and Gansey did the same. 

“Hello!” Gansey shouted, hearing it three different times. 

The two of them had collapsed into a fit of giggles, before continuing to bring out junk to the parking lot where they piled it up high and intended to burn later on. 

“Who are you?” 

Gansey and Ronan had whipped around startled by the quiet voice. Behind them was a boy, who looked high school aged. He was tall, taller than the both of them and he had dusty hair that was cropped short and uneven. He was in an Aglionby uniform, which Gansey found peculiar since school didn’t start for another four days. He had delicate features, a thin mouth, and wide-set blue eyes, and high cheekbones. But there was a large smudge on his left cheek. He just looked smudgy in general. 

Gansey cleared his throat and put up his professional facade. He straightened his back and gave a smile that was reserved for meeting new people. He held out his hand for a handshake, to which the boy just stared at before looking back to him. 

“I’m terribly sorry. My friend and I weren’t aware that any other people were here at the moment. My name is Richard Gansey, and this is Ronan Lynch. But you can call me Gansey,” he introduced. 

Ronan stood where he was, his arms crossed over his chest and gave the stranger an over glance before nodding his head in greeting. 

“What are you two doing here? This place has been abandoned for years,” he said, a slight accent lacing his words. 

“Could ask the same thing to you,” Ronan quipped back. 

The other boy didn’t grace back with an answer, just a glare, and pursed lips. He crossed his arms over his abdomen casually. 

“Don’t mind Ronan, uh,” he said not knowing the boy’s name and trying to prompt him to say it. 

“Adam.” 

Gansey beamed another smile. “Adam. I just bought the property, and we are cleaning it out so it can be livable for me when the school year starts. I see you are wearing an Aglionby uniform. Do you attend?” 

“Yes.” 

“Splendid! Perhaps you will share some classes with Ronan and I! Now it’s been a hot day, would you like to come to Nino’s with us, Adam, for a bite to eat?” 

Adam looked down and shook his head. He took a step forward, and the air that had been so hot and humid, suddenly dropped about ten degrees cooler causing Ronan and Gansey to shiver. 

“Dude, you’re so cold. Should’ve stepped closer to us sooner, I’m fucking dying over here,” Ronan said running a hand through his curly hair pushing it back from his face. 

“I have to go.” 

He walked passed them, and before either of them could look to follow him, he was gone. Gansey turned to Ronan who had a puzzling look on his face. Gansey put his thumb to his lower lip in thought. 

“Well, he was an interesting fella, wasn’t he?” Gansey asked Ronan. 

“That’s a nice way of putting it. I’m gonna call my mom, she can make dinner for us tonight. I’m starving.” 

* * *

Adam was a fleeting and yet constant presence from then on. He came when he wanted to, and often helped Gansey and Ronan with the quest for Glendower. Gansey found that he often humored him, with the quest itself, and was the only person who’d listen to his rants about Welsh kings and the history and feud between Wales and England in the 15th century.

He was quiet, and kept most of his thoughts to himself, but was always listening and observing his surroundings. Sometimes he wouldn’t show up at Monmouth for days, and then he’d suddenly be there. But he was always a welcomed guest. 

Ronan seemed wary of him. Gansey knew he had a habit of being jealous of new people, and afraid that he’d be replaced by the newcomer. He constantly poked fun at his hair, which he once asked “did a blind man cut your hair Adam?” to which Adam said nothing. Pointed out that he seemed to only have his Aglionby uniform and his Henrietta accent which gave insight to where his station was, even if he never fully admitted it out loud to them. Not that Gansey cared about any of that. 

He was intelligent, always willing to help out with algebra homework, or biology questions for a lab Gansey had forgotten about and would have to charm his way into not being late tomorrow. He seemed to know a lot of everything, which impressed Gansey; and he was amazing with cars. A friend to all of them alike, which was great because Gansey’s Camaro was old and liked to break down on him quite often. Adam was invaluable when it came to that and Gansey was thankful for it. 

Gansey was sitting on the floor of Monmouth, constructing his little model of Henrietta, which had started out a project out of his insomnia, but has flourished into a grander scheme. He was gluing the wall to the convenience store on the main street, and Adam was handing him the different materials he needed. 

“Pop quiz, Adam,” Gansey said suddenly. Adam didn’t say anything but arched his eyebrow saying he was ready. “Three things that appear in the vicinity of ley lines?” 

“Black dogs, demonic presences,” he started listing off mechanically like he had a hundred times over, but he hesitated on the last thing, as he always did, Gansey observed. “Ghosts,” he whispered out. 

Gansey nodded in approval before going back to his mini-Henrietta. He mostly did these pop quizzes because he found them fun, and Adam always indulged him, where Ronan would not. 

The two of them sat in silence for the rest of the hour, slowly building the rest of Main Street in the evening sunlight. Adam always left before dark, and when the sun had finally set, he slowly got up, pounded Gansey’s fist and left. 

Gansey wished he had people who stayed with him in Monmouth; the loneliness was unbearable at times.    

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Most of the time Adam hates being a ghost. He hates how he was murdered for no good reason, and that Barrington Whelk of all people, had killed him while he had been bleeding to death anyway, but could’ve saved him by taking him to a hospital or something. Instead, the last person he ever saw before dying was Whelk’s cartoonish features and a glare from him, like it was Adam’s fault for bringing him to kill him. 

Adam had always hated Whelk even when he was alive. But then again, he hated almost every other boy he went to school with anyway; and they probably hated him right back. Some outright came out about it and did it through vicious jabs at his clothing, or his accent, or how he had the school pay for most of his tuition like a freeloader. Other’s showed it through passing glances and whispers behind his back. 

He didn’t really care about all that; he was only at Aglionby in the first place so he could get the fuck out of Henrietta as fast as he could and never look back. 

But now, in a sick twist of fate and turn of events, Adam is perpetually stuck in the place he hates the most in the entire world and he can’t leave. He often wonders why it happened to him, and not to the more horrible people out there. He didn’t see any justice in his death, and he received none either. 

No one knew Adam Parrish had even died. They just knew that he had suddenly dropped from Aglionby weeks before graduation, due to a mental breakdown, and was whisked off to a place far away, and far from sight never to be seen again. And no one even cared. Not that Adam ever expected anyone to anyway. 

He was just as invisible in life as he is in death. 

Some days he felt angrier than others. He had always tried to hide his emotions, fearing that he would be just like his father if they ever came to light. But as a ghost, he didn’t have much to fear anymore. His father couldn’t hurt him more than he had already done. Whelk couldn’t hurt him. No one could hurt him. But if he tried hard enough, he could do what they had done to him. 

Adam stood outside the double-wide on Antietam Lane, the very place he was born and grew up in. His father’s blue pickup truck was still in the makeshift driveway, showing that the Parrishes still, in fact, lived in the shit spot of Henrietta. The neighborhood was still dusty, and desolate filled with dogs who lived outside and abandoned and broken toys and other things in front yards with yellowing grass. 

He walked through the door, and into the living room that doubled as the kitchen. On the same spot, he saw his father still sitting on the couch his feet up on the little coffee table they had watching a football game and a beer in hand. He looked a little grayer, a little more unkempt, but really it looked as if nothing had changed in five years. 

His mother was at the kitchen table, looking down at a paper doing a crossword puzzle. She was hunched over, and she looked just as solemn and dusty as he remembered. Wrinkles covered her face, where they shouldn’t be for someone in her mid-forties. Her dusty hair that he had inherited from her was grayer now. And he saw a bruise on her wrist that caused anger to flood into Adam. 

His mother might not have stood up for him ever, but he hated the idea that now that he was out of the way, his mother had turned into the scapegoat for his father’s anger. He felt the heat of the emotion flare into him. Adam didn’t think he was so capable of emotions like this since he had died. But in his anger, a vase had flung itself off the windowsill and crashed loudly onto the ground. 

The noise startled his mother from her trance, her blue eyes wide in shock as she twisted around to see what had happened. Adam heard her let out a gasp of surprise, as she looked at the shattered glass pieces. And his father had heard it too apparently and stumbled into the kitchen. 

Anger was written all over his facial features. His brown eyes were narrowed in suspicion and his mouth twisted into a sneer. The beer bottle still firmly grasped in his hand. 

“What the fuck was that Jolene?” he growled out looking at the mess before him. 

His mother stood up and scurried over to get a pan and broom to sweep it up quickly. She didn’t look up at his father as she bent down. 

“I don’t know. It just suddenly knocked off to the ground,” she said meekly. 

“Unless there’s a tornado outside our window, there’s no way that could’ve moved from the sill to the floor all by itself. You stupid, useless, bitch!” he yelled. 

Adam saw her flinch inward, and in slow motion, he saw his father raise his foot ready to kick his mother who was still on her hands and knees. Adam felt fury rise into him; he would not let his mother be the next victim of his father. 

He let out a roar of anger, and went in front of his father, pushing him with all his weight. To his surprise, Adam was able to actually touch his father who stumbled backward and onto his ass, hitting his head against the wall. His father for once looked dazed, and it wasn’t because of his alcohol consumption. His beady eyes had a far away look, and Adam could see him shaking the cobwebs out of his brain and looking up at Adam. And he was actually  _ looking _ at him. 

His eyes widened and his face morphed into one of horror, which he was glad for. He wanted his father to feel scared; wanted him to feel how Adam felt every day of his miserable eighteen years alive and under his roof. Adam snarled, and he had no idea what he could’ve possibly looked like to frighten his father so much. 

“If you ever touch her again, I’ll kill you,” he growled out. 

“Adam?” his mother’s soft voice came from where she was behind him. Adam turned toward the voice, shocked she could see him as well. Did she even know he was dead? What did his father tell her when he was through with him? 

The anger vanished in a moment, and then fear crept into his system again, and he forced himself to vanish out of the double wide, leaving his parents in his aftermath of fury. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>  

  Everything changed when Ronan’s father was brutally murdered. It was right at the end of freshman year at Aglionby. Gansey was at a loss of how he was to handle the situation. Ronan loved his father, worshiped him like he was a god among men; or more appropriately a perfect man sent by God himself. And the fact that Ronan was the one to find his father, with his head brutally smashed in with a bloodied tire iron next to the body, was a cruel injustice as far as Gansey was concerned. 

Adam had been MIA after the incident had happened, and Gansey had no way of contacting him. He didn’t own a cellphone, and he hadn’t ever given out a landline telephone number to where he lived either. Meaning that he had no way of knowing where he could be. Adam would just have to come to him. Henrietta wasn’t a big town, after all, they’d probably see each other soon enough. 

Gansey had taken Ronan into Monmouth, after the will had been read to the three Lynch brothers, barring them from entering their home until all of them had reached the age of 18, lest they want all their inheritance taken from them. 

Ronan had not been sleeping and had stolen his father’s BMW from the Barns to take as his. He still didn’t have his driver’s license as he had yet to turn sixteen, but that didn’t stop him from taking long night drives alone in the middle of the night and coming home in the early hours of the morning. 

He had asked Gansey to shave all of his hair off, which Gansey felt was the symbol of a new beginning; but he wasn’t sure if he liked this one. But he was Ronan’s best friend, and he would do anything for him. Slowly as they sat in their kitchen/bathroom/laundry room, Gansey shaved bit by bit, the curly dark hair falling to the floor around them. 

The entire process only took thirty minutes to do, but after it was finished, Gansey felt something raw had been opened up inside him. Ronan lifted a hand and ran it over his freshly shaved skull and turned to face him. 

His blue eyes that were so full of life and mischief just weeks before were now broken and void. A small smile formed on his face, the first he’d seen since the incident happened. He stood up, now far taller than Gansey thanks to a growth spurt, and engulfed him in a hug. This wasn’t something Ronan did ever, but Gansey wrapped his arms around his best friend, reveling in this moment of intimacy between them. 

“Thank you,” he whispered, his voice hoarse from screaming and sobbing and lack of talking. 

Gansey just nodded, knowing that Ronan would get the message loud and clear. 

The next few weeks went fast, as finals approached, and Gansey was able to convince Ronan to at least pull passing grades in his classes for the end of the year. Ronan had been able to, even if he hated it. He had always hated school, but is impassioned hatred only seemed to elevate after the matter. 

The first week of summer break, Ronan had gone out and gotten himself a nine hundred dollar tattoo that spanned the entire length of his back. Declan had come into Monmouth guns blazing in fury when he had found out, only to back off when he saw the tattoo was still healing. Gansey didn’t like Declan all too much, especially since he had taken over as the patriarch role of the Lynch family, but he knew he wasn’t heartless and cared deeply for his brothers, even if he didn’t show it. 

Adam did finally show up one night. Gansey was on the floor, surrounded by various books and articles he had printed out about possible leads of Glendower being buried in the United States. He was annotating and cutting out different parts of the articles and pasting them into his journal he kept on his person religiously. 

“I know what he’s going through,” Adam said. 

Gansey startled, not realizing Adam had ever come in at all. He was rather good at sneaking up on people unannounced. He looked sullen as he usually did, his blue eyes cast down and his shoulders slumped like he was holding the entire weight of the world on his shoulders. He looked down at all the papers, not looking at Gansey at all. 

Gansey adjusted his wireframes which had fallen to the tip of his nose. He cast Adam a curious look, knowing he was talking about Ronan. 

“How so?” he wondered to the boy, who even though it was well into June, and almost July, was still in his Aglionby uniform. 

“I was murdered in cold blood, and now I have to live here forever,” he bluntly said like it was not anything to worry about.

Gansey had not any idea what he was talking about. Adam was probably being dramatic and self-deprecating as he was usually. He turned back to his journal to scribble another thought that had come to him. 

“What a curious thing to say indeed. Sometimes I feel murdered from all the pressure as well,” he said back. 

Adam looked up, his mouth forming a more prominent frown than his resting face showed. He looked exhausted and stood up from where he was sitting next to him. He crossed his arms over his abdomen, a tick Gansey had picked up on. 

“That’s not what I meant,” he whispered before leaving Monmouth. 

Gansey didn’t even look up from his work. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Ronan knew this to be Gansey’s idea. When someone had called the classroom phone in the middle of Chemistry, and had requested Ronan to head down to the school psychologist’s office, he made sure to make his point clear by standing up roughly, slamming his books closed as loud as he could and storming off in the most brutish fashion out the door. And in case that didn’t make it clear to everyone who had stopped what they were doing to stare at him, he gave a snarl and a vicious glare to everyone on his way out. 

The hallway at Aglionby was quiet as it was still in the middle of fourth period. Ronan was lucky he was even at school today. The only reason he was in the hellhole was he was coerced by Declan reminding him of will he held over his head every day, and that Gansey pulled his typical disappointed-father look which was a more gentle form of coercion. He walked out of Welch, and stomped his way across the quad to Whitman, where all the administration stuff was, and also where the guidance counselor offices and psychologist’s office was as well. 

When he walked in, and to the door, he didn’t bother to knock. Ronan turned the doorknob open and swung up the door so it hit the wall with a loud BANG! He stood in the doorframe, looking at the startled man sitting at his desk, glaring at him. 

Mr. Czerny wasn’t anything remarkable. He was one step from being albino, with fair skin, and bleach blonde hair that always seemed to be spiked and gelled in a way that wasn’t unfashionable, and he had gray eyes. He looked like an elf from  _ Lord of the Rings _ . And he couldn’t be more than twenty-five years old. He stood up from his desk with a wide grin on his face and shut the door behind them. 

“You must be Ronan. Please come sit, we have some things to discuss,” he said in a cheerful voice that only annoyed Ronan more. 

Ronan declined the invitation to sit, to which Mr. Czerny just nodded once, and the smile faded a little from his face before moving on. Ronan was not going to be chipper with this guy when it was the last thing he wanted to do. Ronan dropped his books on the floor, allowing them to fall all over and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Why the fuck am I in the shrink’s office?” he grunted out. 

Ronan decided to look around at the little office he found himself in. He found it surprisingly a little cool. It wasn’t what he expected. On the wall above his desk, was his certificate of graduation from Princeton, with a degree in psychology and another of his certification and license to work. On his desk were little bobble heads of Star Wars characters, and posters from punk bands of the early 2000s and 1990s were posted on his wall. And along in picture frames were photos of his friends both from when was in Aglionby and at Princeton, and photos of him and two girls who must’ve been his sisters. He also noticed every frame was covered in glitter of all colors. Ronan gave a slight and silent approval in his head and decided to hear what the guy had to stay instead of booking it out of there like he was about to do. 

He looked back at Mr. Czerny who looked like a kicked puppy at Ronan’s words, making Ronan sigh and roll his eyes but drop himself into the chair that was placed on the other side of the desk. Mr. Czerny seemed to lighten up just a tad at the move and turned to face Ronan in his swivel chair. He leaned back and placed laced his fingers together before resting them behind his neck, and his legs were spread wide in a casual stance, mirroring Ronan’s. He narrowed his eyes at the man but didn’t move. The man had his smile back on his face, like he had already forgiven Ronan for being rude and was back to being a happy man. 

“I’ve heard that recently, you’ve gone through, something,” he started before thinking of the right words to say, “traumatic. And I and others think it would be a good idea for you to talk to someone.” 

“What makes you think I’ll open up to you of all people, Legolas?” smirking as Mr. Czerny thought of the reference he made. He tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy before a broad smile replaced the small one he had already worn. He took his hands from behind his neck and wagged a finger at him. 

“Very funny, Ronan. Like I haven’t heard that one before. But on a serious note, I think if we set up some sessions a few times every week, you’ll find that bearing the burden with someone else can help cope and understand the emotions that you are running through. Your brother, and friend, Mr. Gansey had thought it to be a good idea too.” 

Anger filled Ronan and he stood up suddenly, pushing the chair roughly to the ground behind him. He kicked it for good measure to the wall and saw Mr. Czerny flinch at the sudden noise. He then whipped to face him fully and pointed a finger at him. 

“I don’t need to fucking talk my feelings out to some twenty-five-year old that my asshole of a brother suggested to me. You don’t know shit, and will never know shit. This is bull, I’m out of here.” 

He didn’t even bother to pick up his books from the floor when he slammed the door open and stormed off. Ronan didn’t plan on attending school the rest of the week anyway.  

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Ronan hadn’t been home in hours. This was usually par for the course with Ronan, but something about tonight didn’t settle well in Gansey. Adam had shown up hours before, as he did and went into Ronan’s room. Before Gansey could tell him that no one was really allowed in there, at least before knocking and asking for permission, he had gone in and closed the door behind him. 

Ronan hadn’t been himself since he was called down to the psychologist’s office. Gansey only wanted what was best for his best friend, and after some private chats with Declan regarding it, they thought it would be good for Ronan to talk all his anger and emotions out. Which in retrospect, was extremely stupid of Gansey to even consider. Ronan didn’t talk about his feelings, he projected how he felt through actions such as kicking and punching. Whether or not it was people or inanimate objects was subject to the scenario. Ronan had come storming into Monmouth that day and chewed Gansey off, before slamming his door to the room only to emerge hours later and drive off to go find Declan and brawl with him outside the dorms of Aglionby. His nose was still recovering from that fight. 

Gansey had tried to call Ronan’s cell phone multiple times only to go to the automated voicemail. Each time he left a new message asking him to call back and tell him where the hell he was. He even called Declan, who was curt as usual in his talkings with Gansey but seemed extremely worried before hanging up. 

Gansey was pacing back and forth, his thumb running back forth over his bottom lip. He hoped he wasn’t getting back into racing again, He had just gotten his license, and he didn’t want it revoked so fast. Or God forbid he was drinking and driving. Gansey didn’t know what’d he do if something happens. 

Adam seemed to manifest next to him, bringing a chilling air with him. He was a smudgy and frowny as usual, but he looked concerned. Gansey turned around to face the taller boy. 

“What happened to Ronan?” he asked, his voice just above a whisper. 

Gansey shook his head, running a hand through his hair, pulling at the roots a little bit. He glanced at his phone again hoping in vain there was a message from Ronan he had somehow missed in the last few seconds. 

“Ronan’s out somewhere,” he responded. 

Adam’s features pinched into one of confusion, and he cocked his head to the side like he didn’t understand. 

“I don’t see how that is a problem. He’s always out.” 

Gansey shook his head again. “I have a bad feeling about tonight though. He really stormed out with destruction on his mind.” 

He then walked over the floor and grabbed his car keys that were lying in a mess of papers and magazines. Adam was still standing where he was looking at Gansey with a blank face. 

“I’m going out to look for him, and I think we would do well to split up. That way we cover more ground too. Declan is most like out searching as well. The faster we do this, the faster we find Ronan.” 

Adam sighed and nodded walking towards Gansey. In a second he was right next to him, which caused Gansey to blink and shake his head. Adam moved faster than he thought. The two of them walked down the stairs and into the parking lot. 

“You go east and I’ll go west,” Gansey commanded stepping into the Pig. 

He put the keys into the ignition, thankful that she wasn’t being a pain in the ass tonight. When he looked up, Adam was already gone. He pulled out of the driveway fast and started to search everywhere he thought Ronan would show up. 

“Fuck, he better not be with Kavinsky,” he muttered to himself as he drove into the main part of Henrietta. 

He slowed down the car as he drove by the alleyways that Ronan had brawled in the past, but he saw no one or any suspicious activity in those areas. He drove down the stretch of highway that Ronan was known for racing down in the dead of night with the low-life's of Aglionby and even that was quiet. It was an odd sensation. Gansey still checked his phone periodically every minute, hoping that Ronan or someone would say anything good about his whereabouts.  

It was quiet in the Pig, except for the engine running, and Gansey’s heartbeat. He kept driving to all the other places Ronan had been known to hang out with, only to find the same luck of nothing. Each time he came up with nothing, a spike of anxiety hit Gansey’s body making him want to find Ronan that much faster. 

The silence was interrupted by the loud shrill of Gansey’s phone ringing. He blindly reached it and answered the phone. 

“Did you find him?” he asked in a panic hoping whoever it was done. He hadn’t even checked caller-ID. 

“Jesus, fuck, Gansey please come to St. Agnes right now,” Adam’s voice said on the other line in a quiet panic. 

“Adam, did you fucking find Ronan?” he demanded needing to know, already making his way towards the church on the other side of town. 

There was silence on the other end for a moment and then was seemed to be a breathy sob. “Fuck, Ronan’s here, but I think he’s about to die. Gansey, please hurry, I can’t look at someone die again. I just can’t,” he cried. 

Gansey nearly slammed on the breaks. He’s never heard Adam so emotional in all the time he’s known him. If anything could shake him up this badly, that meant it was truly catastrophic. He felt his heart beating so fast he was afraid it might actually jump out of his chest. 

“Fuck. Adam, did you at least call 911?” 

There was more silence, but Gansey didn’t have time to deal with silence from Adam. 

“Adam! Did you call 911?” he demanded, using his voice that he reserved for drawing attention to people. It was is power voice. 

“Shit, no. I just called you. Fuck, he’s going to die and it’ll be my fault. Just like it was before. Fuck,” Adam babbled on. 

“I’ll be there in five minutes. And I’ll call 911. Make sure he doesn’t die goddamnit!” he yelled before hanging up the phone and dialing 911. 

“911 what’s your emergency?” the person asked. 

“I have a friend who is in need of immediate medical assistance. He is located at St. Agnes Church in Henrietta Virginia. Please hurry,” he said before hanging up. 

He pulled into the vacant parking lot of St. Agnes, with the charcoal BMW that belonged to Ronan the only other car. Gansey ran out of the car and into the doors, to find that Adam was sitting next to and above Ronan who was lying in his own pool of blood, completely unconscious. Adam jumped to his feet and was then right in front of Gansey. His eyes were blurry and it looked like he had been crying, and he was extremely terrified. 

“Is the ambulance here? Please tell me it's here,” he begged. His accent softened all the words and blurred them together.

Gansey dropped to his knees, focusing on Ronan. Adam kept babbling on about something, but it was just white noise to Gansey’s ears. Ronan looked even paler than usual, and there were nasty slashes that went deep across his wrists. Ones that meant to kill. 

At the very thought that Ronan slashing his own wrists was enough to make Gansey almost throw up. He felt a surge of guilt wash over him, as he thought of all the signs he could’ve missed that led his best friend to this. 

“Please move out of the way,” a firm voice came from behind. 

Gansey looked up to see it was paramedics, and the red and blue flashing lights of the ambulance were reflecting off the church walls. He stood up and let the professionals do their job. They all asked him questions about Ronan’s state, to which Gansey tried to answer as best he could with the minimal information he had. Adam stood away from the scene his arms crossed over his abdomen, looking like he was witnessing the worst thing he’s ever seen. But no one asked him anything; they didn’t even glance his way.

They took his body off the floor on a gurney and Gansey and Adam followed closely behind. Gansey jumped into the Pig and saw that Adam was still standing outside looking sadly at the ambulance. Gansey reached over to roll down the window. 

“Adam, are you coming?” he asked. 

The smudgy boy looked over at him with a far away stare, before he blinked and slunk his way into the Camaro. Gansey pulled out and followed down the interstate to the hospital, where they rushed Ronan in for emergency surgery. 

“Fuck, we need to call Declan,” Gansey said remembering. If he didn’t notify Declan he found Ronan, he’d have to deal with a furious Lynch brother. Adam silently passed him the cell phone with Declan’s caller ID already dialed. Gansey put it on speaker phone. 

“Gansey, did you find Ronan?” Declan's voice asked immediately, echoing what Gansey had asked Adam not too long ago. 

“Yeah we found him, but he’s being taken to the hospital for emergency surgery.” 

Then he hesitated and whispered, “Declan, both his wrists were slashed deeply open.”

A string of loud and colorful curses erupted from Declan's mouth, that made Gansey share a glance with Adam who still looked shaken up from finding Ronan. Gansey waited to hear what he had to say. 

“Jesus fucking Christ, I’ll be there soon,” he said, but he had a quiver in his voice, lie he was terrified of losing his brother, and more. 

Gansey couldn’t imagine losing his father, and basically his mother along with Helen all in a swoop within a year of each other. He could never fathom that pain.

Adam and Gansey sat in the waiting room anxiously for what seemed to be hours. Declan had come storming in demanding to see his brother and handling all the paperwork and insurance that went along with it. After a while, Declan came back, looking more put together than when he had arrived. He sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. Gansey and Adam stood up together. Declan barely spared a glance at Adam, turning his attention to Gansey. 

“He’s going to be fine. And I wouldn’t worry about him.” 

Gansey blanched at Declan’s words. Adam quirked an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Declan looked cool and composed and not too worried. 

“What the fuck does that mean? I found my best friend in a pool of his own fucking blood, with slashed wrists and you want to tell me not to worry about him? Declan, what the hell?” Gansey demanded feeling anger build up in him. 

Declan’s blue eyes flashed in warning, but Gansey wasn’t afraid of a Lynch brother. He stood his ground. 

“I said don’t fucking worry about it. Go visit him, but don’t ask questions. He will be fine. Ronan has already agreed to see Czerny next week.” 

“No, I will ask questions because I fucking care for Ronan.” 

Declan bared his teeth, very similar to how Ronan does when he gets furious. It was no wonder they were related to one another. His light blue eyes held a fire in them and he pointed a finger and pushed it against Gansey’s chest. 

“Do not determine my care for my fucking younger brother. This is bigger than you’ll ever fucking understand,” he growled. 

Then he took a deep breath and stormed out of the hospital leaving both him and Adam to go see Ronan and figure out what the hell just happened.   

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Adam was completely shaken by the events that had happened almost six months ago. Seeing Ronan almost dead was enough for Adam to vanish into thin air, and after the events had occurred, he didn’t see Gansey and Ronan for almost two weeks. He was too ashamed of not being able to do anything to save Ronan and for being stupid enough to forget to call 911 instead of Gansey first. 

He had heard the fury in Gansey’s voice, and on his face when he came to the scene. Adam had seen fury through different eyes and faces all his life, and no matter who it came from it still terrified him to his very core. He didn’t want to face the two of them in the aftermath, fearing they’d hate him. 

But at the same time, he found he couldn’t be far away from Monmouth. So he lingered, and he watched Gansey work away at his leads and notes he had taken for a recent excursion to the blue mountains that surrounded Henrietta. He often stayed up at late hours of the night, and Adam wished he could just make him fall asleep. 

He watched Ronan too but kept his distance much further. Ronan didn’t like Adam too much anyway, but he had thought they were making progress. They were able to sit next to one another in silence without it being awkward. And when they did talk it was nice. But now Adam was afraid he had blown it closed again. 

Ronan was under constant surveillance of Gansey and Declan nowadays, his school record was much better than it had been post- accident. His grades were improving; Ronan was extremely smart if he applied himself. And he had been going to sessions with the school psychologist, not that it had done much. Ronan still walked like he had a vendetta and acted rash and still kicked and punched people like Declan and Kavinsky. 

And recently, he had felt himself fading in and out. Somedays it took all his willpower to just stay conscious on this plane of existence, and others it was like nothing was ever wrong. 

He had just had another fight with Ronan and had fled away into disappearing. But he was still watching from a distance, never truly leaving, fearing that if he left something as horrible was going to happen to Ronan. Adam never wanted anyone to go through his own suffering fate, of having no one to care or save you from death. He wouldn’t allow his friends, even if he did but heads with them multiple times a week. 

Adam had faded into a void. His energy had spurted out suddenly. It happened occasionally, and in the time that it did happen, he never remembered it. It was just like he had truly faded out, and blacked out from nothing, only to be tugged back. He never knew to expect it, and he never knew how long it lasted for. He just knew it did. And sometimes he came back in odd places. 

Like in the psychologist’s office in the middle of a session with Ronan. He had no idea why this was the place he ended up in but he blinked slowly to get his bearings again. He always wondered if this was what a hangover or coming down from a high was like. Not that he had any experience to base it off of. 

It didn’t seem like he was being noticed by any of the people in the room, to which Adam heaved a sigh. That would be humiliating. 

He stood up from the floor and wandered through the office, looking at all the things inside. It was surprisingly colorful, with posters of bands he didn’t recognize, and many Star Wars toys and trinkets that lined the desk and windowsill. Photographs were hanging from the walls, and he saw some on his desk as well. It seemed very...open. And friendly. 

He walked from behind the desk and next to Ronan who looked like he didn’t want to be there, but had a hint of amusement as the man, the psychologist, told a story of some sort. Adam wasn’t listening, just looking at Ronan. This was the first smile he’d seen in months, one that wasn’t sharp or taunting for a fight, or full of arrogance. 

Adam wanted to know who was able to bring this Ronan out from hiding. He looked across the desk. The man was young, and he was pale and had light blonde hair that was artfully stuck up. He wore a dress shirt, but had the arms rolled up to his elbows and untucked and a pair of khakis and sneakers. He had a big smile on his face and was waving his arms and hands around as he kept talking. Adam squinted at him, swearing he looked familiar to him. He knew him from somewhere. 

He finished his story and Ronan opened his mouth and said something back. Adam still couldn’t really hear what they were saying for some reason. Then he realized, Ronan was facing his deaf ear, which was still, in fact, deaf, in death. That was why it sounded garbled to Adam.  

Adam walked to the other side wanted to hear Ronan speak. He seemed relatively comfortable with the man sitting across from him, which Adam was surprised to see. Ronan didn’t take well to new people. 

I guess he isn’t really new if he’s been seeing him for six months, Adam thought to himself. 

“...Gansey is all about finding this dead Welsh king, that he thinks was shipped to America in the 1400s and is buried in Virginia, and ley lines and magical energy and shit,” Ronan said feigning boredom. 

Ronan talked a lot of crap about Gansey’s mission, but Adam had hung around him long enough to know that he’d do anything for Gansey. The man seemed to perk up at the mention of ley lines. 

“Wow, ley line is a term I haven’t heard in years! When I went to Aglionby, you know Whelk right? Of course, you do, you’re in his Latin class, we’d always go out searching for energy lines and stuff.” 

And that was exactly how Adam figured out who the man was. And he felt a stone drop in his stomach and a chill run up his spine. Noah Czerny. The roommate of Barrington Whelk, the man who had murdered Adam six years ago. He looked around the room and saw his name plastered on walls with certificates of graduation and credentials. His name was on the desk itself. How did he not notice this?  

“Whoa, what the hell?” he heard Czerny shout.

Out of his peripheral, he saw Ronan look towards him, his eyes wide in surprise and shock. Adam must’ve become corporeal again. But that didn’t explain how Noah Czerny could’ve spotted him; almost no one could see him. Ronan had stood up running a hand over his shaved head. 

“Adam, what the fuck man? How the fuck did you get in here?” Ronan demanded with his face morphed into a scowl. 

Adam shook his head to get the shock of seeing a kid he would’ve graduated with. Noah was one of the kids Adam didn’t actually hate in Aglionby. He hadn’t really talked to him, but he didn’t care for Adam either. They mostly just mutually acknowledged each other occasionally. It was weird seeing someone his age who had moved on with his life while Adam was stuck being eighteen forever. 

“Excuse me, Adam, was it? You cannot be in here during a meeting. These are confidential and extremely private. I’m going to have to report you,” Noah said in a professional tone. 

That freaked Adam out too. It showed how much time really had passed since that day. Noah walked forward, and he saw him stop short of himself. His light features shifted into one of confusion and curiosity. 

“Wow, you look just like an Adam I used to know. Like you could be his twin. That is weird,” he said slowly, still looking at him. 

Adam felt like a deer in headlights. Ronan was still scowling at him and his arms were crossed tightly over his chest. Noah shook his head and went back over to his desk and pulled out a piece of paper. 

“Now what is your last name? I’m going to need your information.” 

Adam vanished in a panic. 

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Gansey was surprised when Adam decided to show at Nino’s. He was the most spotty when it came to coming along to the local diner that seemed to attract every student from Aglionby. And when he did, he usually just ordered a water for himself, and then nothing else. He was vehement to decline any pizza or garlic bread when offered, stating he didn’t have enough money to chip in for the cost. To which Gansey would swipe the comment away saying it was no problem, which then caused a problem because Adam was very sensitive when it came to money. 

Gansey and Ronan didn’t know much about Adam. They knew he was around their age, and that he attended Aglionby with them, given that the scruffy uniform seemed to be the only thing he wore; but neither of them had any classes with him. Gansey figured it was because his friend was extremely intelligent and only took the honors and AP classes, which Ronan and Gansey didn’t bother with, as they didn’t need them. And Gansey had deduced that Adam was from a lower station than most of the other Aglionby boys. Not that he had ever mentioned it to Adam’s face, but he could see Adam knew he knew, no matter how much he tried to hide it with his accent, and the way he tried to perfect his uniform. 

When he and Ronan pulled up into the parking lot in front of Nino’s, Adam was standing at the entrance, looking around and observing his surroundings. People walked in and out of the restaurant, and never even spared a glance at him. Gansey was on the phone with his sister and gave a nod of acknowledgment to Adam who just nodded in turn, standing up straight and walking behind Ronan who opened the door. 

He nodded along to whatever Helen had to say about his parent’s most recent get together with some ritzy friends, trying to garner companionship in case his mother does decide to run for a Congressional seat. It was rather boring to hear about, but he humored Helen and put his two cents. 

The hostess, who he’d seen the many of times he’s been to Nino’s walked up with a smile on her face. Gansey held up three fingers, before commenting to Helen again. He walked behind the girl named Cialina who put them in their regular booth towards the back of the restaurant. 

“Helen, I must go. I’ll talk to you later about this.” 

Helen let out a laugh, “Enjoy your grease Dick,” she said before hanging up. 

Gansey slid into one side, and Ronan in his tall height hit his head on the light hanging above the table, eliciting a laugh from both Gansey and Adam. 

“Bitch,” he cursed rubbing his head before roughly placing himself down next to Adam and across from Gansey. 

Gansey then slid out his journal and opened it up to the new notes and articles he had found this week. Adam had missed a lot in his absence, and he wanted him to be caught up and feel included. He started but saw that Adam was looking somewhere beyond the booth they were sitting at. 

“Adam,” he called trying to get his attention, but he ignored him. 

He twisted around to see what he was looking at, and he saw one of the waitresses. Gansey recognized her purely from coming here so often but did not know her name. She was tiny and had a colorful assortment of ripped clothing underneath her apron. And her hair was spiky and had clips of all colors and sizes in her hair. And she looked less than pleased to be working. Gansey thought she was cute, in a very unconventional way. Apparently, Adam did too. 

He was staring at her, and he had a look on his face Gansey hadn’t seen before. His eyes were soft, and he looked smitten. Ronan seemed to notice too and scoffed before turning back to making his spider out of straw wrappers. 

“Adam, do you like that girl over there?” Gansey asked, which snapped Adam to attention. 

He shook his head, and a light blush formed over his face, making the smudgy birthmark on his face more noticeable than normal. He looked down and started to play with the napkin in front of him. 

“She’s cute, but I don’t want any attention drawn to it,” he muttered. 

Gansey scoffed and he saw Ronan roll his eyes. He wasn’t looking, but he could tell he was paying attention to the conversation.

“Hey! Fancy seeing you all here!” A cheery voice came from above all of them. 

Looking up, Gansey saw the face of Mr. Czerny, the school psychologist. The weird lighting of Nino’s made him look more elven than he usually looked. Like seeing a teacher or school faculty outside of an academic setting, Gansey found it weird that the young man came up to the three of them. Gansey had met a few times with him, asking how Ronan was progressing with the sessions, but it was entirely professional; he didn’t think it would be anything but. Gansey gave a polite smile he reserved for politicians and adult authorities. 

“Good evening Mr. Czerny. It truly is a coincidence isn’t it.” 

Ronan finally looked over and had a look of mild contempt and amusement. Gansey was impressed by the causal interaction. He gave a curt nod. 

“‘Sup,” he said like he was talking to a friend. Gansey felt his eyebrows raise to his hairline in surprise. 

Adam looked like he wanted to die and be anywhere else but in the booth at Nino’s. Mr. Czerny noticed him last and gave a friendly smile, and then he sat down next to Gansey in the booth. To which everyone stared at him like he had grown another head onto his body. He didn’t seem to care. 

“And Adam, whose last name I still don’t know. I’m gonna let you off the hook, but whatever you heard you cannot say anything,” he gently chastised. 

Adam sunk even further into his seat, looking more smudgy than ever. Gansey had heard about what had happened between him and Ronan during the session and figured that was the reason for his absence. He was completely humiliated, but Gansey had to wonder why he did it in the first place. 

“I’m good at keeping secrets,” he muttered. 

Mr. Czerny nodded like he accepted that as a good answer and turned to Gansey with a bright smile on his face. He clapped his hands together and leaned his elbows on the table with his head balancing on his fists. 

“Now this isn’t any confidential stuff that has been told to me, but Ronan over here mentioned you were interested in ley lines?” 

Gansey visibly perked up. He had no idea anyone else had even known about them before he had discussions about them with teachers willing to listen. The fact that someone knew prior was enough to make Gansey’s day. Ronan looked mildly interested in what had to be said between the two of them. 

“You know about ley lines, Mr. Czerny?” he asked ecstatically. 

He flapped his hand and leaned back in a casual position against the vinyl seats of the booth. 

“Noah is fine out of school. Plus, Mr. Czerny makes me feel so old; like for crying out loud, I am only twenty-four years old. Not so much older than yourself. But yeah, when I was in Aglionby, I used to scavenge for them all the time. It was a great way to get off campus, I’ll tell you.” 

Gansey flipped open his notebook to a clean page, and where his pen was. He looked up at the older man, eager to hear what he had to say. 

“Tell me everything you know,” he said with his pen ready to write. 

And he did. Most of the information he knew already, but he still found it great that someone else besides himself was talking with vigor for once. It gave Gansey a rush of energy and warmth. 

“We’re going on an excursion this weekend, it’d be lovely if you want to join us.” 

Ronan nearly choked on the Coke he was drinking and Adam’s eyes went wide and his mouth dropped a little. 

“Gansey have you lost your mind?” Ronan quipped out after he recovered. 

He paid little attention to the two of them looking over at Noah. He seemed a little conflicted at the offer, his mouth and eyebrows pinched together. 

“I don’t know if it’s entirely appropriate for me to go out on scavenger hunts with students at the school I work with,” he mused. 

Gansey flapped his hands in dismissal. “Nonsense. I’ve gone out on excursions on older people than you, and when I was younger myself. This is no big deal,” he reassured. 

He wanted someone with experience with him if he could get it. And it would be great to have a fresh face. Ronan seemed to like him, which was an added bonus, given Ronan liked no one except him and Adam. 

Finally, he shrugged and smiled. “I’d love to do that.” 

“Brilliant!” Gansey said, feeling jubilant. He remembered the conversation they were having before Noah interrupted. 

He looked back at Adam who was again staring at the waitress with that look on his face. Noah looked over his shoulder to see who had garnered Adam’s attention. 

“She’s cute, in a high school way,” he commented. 

Adam whipped his head back fast after that comment and looked back down at his lap, wrapping his arms around his abdomen as he does whenever he’s feeling particularly shy or wary. Gansey leaned over the table. 

“Do you want me to talk to her for you?” he offered. 

Adam looked up his eyes wide. “No, please don’t do that.” 

Gansey scoffed and motioned for Noah to scoot out of the booth so he could as well. He stood up and faced the three of them. 

“Nonsense. You obviously like her. I’ll help you out,” he said before walking away and towards her.

Her back was facing him, and he gently tapped her shoulder. She whipped around and looked ready to fight with him, and glared at him while giving a once over. Gansey just gave a smile in response. 

“Can. I. Help. You.” she gritted out between teeth. 

Gansey tilted his head. “I certainly hope so.” 

The music was loud in Nino’s, he wasn’t a particular fan of the song playing, and the chatter of multiple conversations made it hard to hear, so he had to speak loudly to be understood. 

“My socially inebriated friend Adam thinks you’re cute, but he’s unwilling to make a move. Over there. Not the elven one. Not the sulky one.” 

Her nametag read Blue on it, and she looked over from behind his shoulder towards the table the four of them had been sitting at. She arched an eyebrow before looking back at him. 

“So?” she asked with a lack of interest. 

“So, would you do me a favor and come over and talk with him?” he asked politely. 

Her expression got even stormier as she continued the conversation. She had crossed her arms over her chest tightly. 

“What exactly is it you think I’m going to talk to him about?” 

Gansey didn’t see how you couldn’t talk to Adam. He was a plethora of knowledge. He gave another smile to her. 

“We’ll think of something. We’re interesting people,” he insisted. It was true after all. At least it was his truth. 

She seemed to consider it for a second, and Gansey felt hope blossom. Then she glared and uncrossed her arms before pointing at her apron she wore. 

“Do you see how I’m wearing this apron? It means I’m working. For a living,” she snapped. 

Gansey didn’t see how that was relevant. “I’ll take care of it,” he said. 

“Take care of it?” she echoed to him with disbelief laced heavily in her tone. She had balanced all her weight on her right leg. 

Gansey nodded at her. “Yeah. How much do you make an hour? I’ll take care of it. And I’ll talk to your manager,” he offered. He couldn’t see how anyone could not take the offer. It was generous. 

She looked at him like he was the craziest person she’d ever met. Her mouth opened but no sound came out except what sounded like the beginnings of a laugh. And she closed it again before opening it back up. “I am not a  _ prostitute, _ ” she accused emphasis on the last word. 

Gansey was confused on how she had come to that conclusion before he replayed the words he had just spoken. He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, that is not how I meant it. That is not what I said.” 

“That _ is _ what you said! You think you can just pay me to talk to your friend? Clearly, you pay most of your female companions by the hour and don’t know how it works in the real world, but. But…,” she faded off in her rant, her dark face turning a shade of red from anger. 

Gansey started to respond but she cut him off again. 

“Most girls, when they’re interested in a guy, will sit with them  _ for free _ ,” she spat. 

He didn’t say anything for a long moment. Gansey tried to compose his thoughts so he didn’t offend her again. He wanted to clean up this situation he got himself into as best as possible. 

“You said you work for a living. I thought it’d be rude to not take that into account. I’m sorry if you’re insulted. I see where you’re coming from, but I feel it’s a little unfair that you’re not doing the same for me.” 

“I  _ feel _ like you’re being condescending,” she snapped back with heat still on her tongue. 

Gansey was shocked at how ugly this conversation had gotten. He put his thumb over his lower lip. 

“Dear God, I don’t know what else to say.”

“‘Sorry’”, she recommended to him with bite. 

“I already said that.” 

“Then ‘bye’”, she bit before turning her back. 

Gansey gave a polite gesture before turning around and heading to his table again. He saw Ronan with a shit-eating smirk as he whistled as a plane went crashing into the table. Noah looked like he was trying to hide his laughter as best he could, while Adam held his face in his hands sliding down the seat until his chin was basically level with the table. 

He sat down with a large sigh of defeat. 

“I am so sorry that went so terribly, Adam,” he apologized. 

Gansey shut his journal and pulled it into his lap. Ronan proceeded to mock Blue in a high pitched voice that said: “I’m not a prostitute.” While Adam covered his face more. Then he looked up and made eye contact with Blue, looking remorseful of the whole situation. Gansey felt horrible too.  

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Adam wasn’t sure how he felt approaching the steps of 300 Fox Lane. He had suggested calling the women who were the known psychics of Henrietta for any advice on the search for Glendower because he figured they’d know something about energy lines and ley lines and other mystical stuff. 

But the idea of stepping foot into a place where he could easily be seen for what he was, terrified him. He didn’t want his friends to know who he really was. He had come close with Noah those few weeks ago, when he had recognized him, but instead placed it as a doppelganger. Gansey and Ronan were the only friends he had ever had, and he would do anything not to lose them. 

Gansey had been late for the appointment, and drove like a madman to the house in his Camaro, with Ronan in the passenger seat and Adam in the back. They had walked up together and Gansey knocked on the door. A woman, who was short, had brown skin and black hair cropped to her shoulders opened the door. 

He saw Gansey flash a smile hoping to sooth his error. “Sorry that I’m late, will it be a problem?” 

The three of them stepped into the house. Behind the woman, Adam caught the eye of a familiar girl. His eyes widened at the sight of Blue. And a wave of guilt crashed in on him, for never calling her back after she had given her number to him. Oh, he wanted to do that, but he had flickered out into space or whatever void soon after and had only come back a few moments before he went over with Gansey and Ronan. But he had memorized the number written on the napkin and promised to himself he’d call her. 

She looked shell-shocked, staring at Gansey in disbelief, only breaking to blink slowly and comically a couple of times. Adam could only think of one reason why she would be here, and it was that she lived in this home. Which meant that she lived with a family of psychics, and Adam figured that was why she had no problem seeing him. 

“Well, it’s not too late. Come into the reading room. Can I get some names?” she said as she made her way further into the home. 

“Gansey,” he introduced himself, before pointing, “Adam. Ronan. Where do you want us? There?” he said his palm out flat. 

The woman nodded her head, “In there. This is my daughter Blue, by the way. She’ll be present for the reading if you don’t mind.” 

Adam watched him make eye contact and notice Blue for the first time, his smile freezing on his face. “Hi again. This is awkward.” 

Blue’s mother raised her eyebrows. “You’ve met?” she said to Blue with a sharp look. Blue looked embarrassed. 

“Yes. We had a discussion alternative professions for women. I didn’t realize she was your daughter,” he cut in before adding, “Adam?” He shot the same look Blue’s mother gave to her. Which Adam felt was unnecessary. He put his hands out in disbelief. 

“I didn’t know either!” he defended, “I didn’t know, I swear.”

Gansey looked like he was ready to say a rebuttal, but Blue’s mother cut in instead. 

“I need everyone to sit down!” Her voice was one octave away from a shout which startled all parties in the room. And almost everyone slid down onto the different furniture that made up the room. Adam crossed his arms over his abdomen, looking away from the older woman. Only Ronan and another woman he didn’t know remained standing up. Adam observed the two of them checking each other out with wary. He could see they were more similar than they’d admit to. 

“It is, too damn loud in here,” Blue’s mother muttered. Adam looked to her, where she had a hand covering her temple and jaw like she had a migraine coming on. Adam slunk down further into his seat wanting to leave. Gansey looked confused and worried. 

“Do I need to leave?” Blue asked her mother. 

“Why would you have to leave?” Gansey asked worried about the comment. Blue shook her head at him like he misunderstood. 

“She makes things louder for us. And you three are... very loud already,” Blue’s mother supplied.  

Adam found that hard to believe. He’d never been loud in his life. Being loud also meant being assertive, and he was nothing if not submissive. At least in a sense of everything except academics. How could he of all people be considered loud, when he was so quiet? 

“What do you mean, very loud?” Gansey inquired seeming very invested and interested. 

“ I mean there is something about your energies that is very…” she faded before twisting her back towards the entrance they came in, to another woman who had a giant mane of light blonde hair. “How do we even do this?” she asked her.

The quiet blonde one quietly suggested, “One at a time?” 

The intense woman put out another suggestion, “One-offs. You’ll  have to, or some of you will have to leave. They’re just too noisy.” 

“What is a one-off? How is it different from a regular reading?” Gansey asked. 

The intense one just continued on like they weren’t there. “It doesn’t matter what they want. It is what it is. Take it or leave it.” 

“A one-off is where you each draw just one card from a deck of tarot cards, and we interpret,” Blue’s mother explained. 

Gansey nodded in approval. “Whatever you’re comfortable with.” 

Blue’s mother started to shuffle the cards when the blonde one interrupted saying Blue should be the one to deal. Blue scooted closer and dealt the cards. She shuffled them like she’d done it a million times, doing fancy tricks which fascinated Adam. When no one volunteered, she held them out to Adam. 

He didn’t like where this was going at all. But he didn’t want to stick out more than he felt he already was. Quickly, he picked a card and handed it over to Blue’s mother face down. He wasn’t ready to look at it. 

She glanced at it, declaring it was “Two of Swords.” 

Adam had no idea what the could possibly mean. He had no experience with tarot cards or anything of the like. 

“You’re avoiding a hard choice. Acting by not acting. You’re ambitious, but you feel like someone...no  _ something _ ’s,” she said with a questioning tone before continuing, “asking something of you you’re not willing to give. Asking you to compromise your principles.” 

Adam felt like he’d been struck down by lightning. Ever since he could remember, he heard voices whispering to him. And even as he passed on in life, he still heard him. They called to him, which is where he found the forest in the first place. It had become a safe haven for him from his father and his troubles. Latin was whispered into his ears, the trees called to him. They asked for him, but he couldn’t find it in himself to give it to them. And it was where ended up being murdered anyway. Some days he wished he had given in, and maybe he would’ve been saved. But his pride was too much of his identity. 

“Do you want to ask a question,” Blue’s mother prompted. 

“What is the right choice?”

He saw the two women whisper to each other before turning her attention back to Adam who felt flayed. All this energy was making him feel more  _ alive _ . 

“There isn’t a right one. Just one you can live with.” 

Adam almost laughed at the irony. But she continued on. 

“There could be a third option that might suit you better,” she seemed questionable, “but right now, you’re not seeing it because you’re so involved with the other two. I’d guess from what I’m seeing that any other path would have to go outside those other two options and making your own option. I’m also sensing you’re a very analytical thinker. You’ve spent a lot of time learning to ignore your emotions, but I don’t think that is a time for that.” 

Adam didn’t know what to say, so he just muttered a “thanks,” and leaned back against the chair. 

Blue stood up to give the deck to Ronan, who refused to take a card, and ended up getting into an argument with the intense woman, and getting spooked by her and storming off. Anyone who could spook Ronan garnered Adam’s attention. Blue seemed to be simmering anger from the disrespect Ronan gave but then moved to Gansey. He heaved a sigh. 

“I’m sorry. Ronan is blunt, and he wasn’t comfortable coming here in the first place. I wasn’t trying to insinuate that you were less than genuine. Can we continue?” Gansey offered in his polite, political voice. 

“You’re fine,” Blue’s mother said, glaring at the intense woman still standing up. 

Gansey stared at the cards held in front of him with a crease of intensity in his eyebrow. He then glanced up to Blue. 

“I don’t know how to choose. Could you pick a card for me? Will that work?”

Adam frowned at his response, not understanding what was so difficult about it. The woman with the blonde hair said softly, “If you want it to.” 

Adam liked her. She had a calm aura to her, and he felt safe with her presence in the room. Where everyone else was intense and loud, she was soft and quiet. 

“It’s about intention,” Blue’s mother added. 

Gansey nodded. “I want you to, please.” 

Blue spread the cards out like a fan, and her fingers danced over them one by one. She chose the one that had been spread a little further than the others and flipped it over. Adam didn’t know the card, but it made Blue giggle and her mother told her to choose another. 

“What’s wrong with that one?” Gansey wondered. 

“It has Blue’s energy on it. It wasn’t meant to be yours. You’ll have to pick it yourself,” Blue’s mother demanded. 

Gansey turned away from the cards like he was choosing the winning raffle ticket when they were held in front of him. He picked one from the bunch and flipped it over. Adam saw it was the same card again. Blue’s mother looked less than pleased. 

“Pick another one.” 

Gansey looked a little miffed. “Now why? What’s wrong with this card? What does it mean?” 

“Nothing’s wrong with it. It’s just not yours.” 

Adam looked at Gansey’s face. He saw he was starting to turn frustrated, an expression he didn’t share often with others. Adam found that interesting and kept watching the scene unfold. 

Gansey suddenly chose another card with a little bit of aggression and flipped it over and slapped it hard on the table. They all stared at it. 

“That’s your card.” 

“Death,” Gansey read aloud. Adam really found that ironic but didn’t share his feelings with the class. 

The intense woman, who Adam really needed to know the name of, scoffed. 

“Great job, Maura. You going to interpret that for the kid?” 

“Probably we should just give him a refund,” the blonde’s soft voice said. 

Adam decided to put his two cents in. He knew just a little bit of tarot cards. Not a lot, but he knew about death. 

“I thought psychics didn’t predict death. I read that the Death card was only symbolic.” 

He got vague responses for his troubles. 

“Actually, I don’t care about that,” Gansey said flippantly. Everyone turned their attention to him. 

“I mean, the cards are very interesting, and I don’t want to discount what you do. But I didn’t really come here to have my future told to me. I’m quite okay with finding that myself,” he said in a confident voice. 

Adam was constantly amazed by Gansey and the way he acted in all situations. He wished he had known him when he was alive so he could’ve grown up to be more like him. 

“Really, I came because I was hoping to ask a question about energy. I know you deal in energy work, and I’ve been trying to find a ley line I think is near Henrietta. Do you know anything about it?” 

“Ley line,” Maura echoed. “Maybe. I don’t know if I know it by name. What is it?” 

Adam had a feeling she knew exactly what it was, but didn’t want to give out the information she knew. 

Gansey then went on to describe it for them. The other two women made excuses to be elsewhere, and Adam saw a small smile form on Gansey’s face telling him that he knew they were lying about the information they knew, or in this case claimed to not know. Gansey then paid the sixty dollars owed for the readings, and Adam felt himself sharply staring at Blue for hiding information from Gansey. But she didn’t say anything at all. 

As they were ushered out of the room and towards the front, Gansey turned around to face the women. 

“Look, we’re all adults here. So I think we deserve the truth. Tell me you know something but you don’t want to help me if that’s what’s going on, but don’t lie to me.” 

Adam let out a sigh and would’ve smacked his head against the wall. Gansey always had foot in the mouth syndrome at the worst of times it seemed. 

“I know something but I don’t want to help you,” Maura declared. 

Gansey looked a little put-off, but he hid it behind a polite facade. He nodded once curtly. “All right then. No, no, you can stay put. We’ll let ourselves out.” 

And he did and Adam followed behind. Adam shrugged his shoulders and put his hands in his pockets. 

“I’d say it went pretty well,” he commented before getting into the Camaro.  

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Gansey couldn’t have imagined all the new revelations him and his friends had found since the initial meeting with the psychics. Adam had seemed to befriend the waitress, Blue, and invited her along on some expeditions much to the dismay of Ronan and to the delight of Gansey and Noah. 

Noah brought a new burst of energy to the group, his enthusiasm makes up for the lack of that often came from Ronan and Adam who had been going along with all of it for so long. And he and Blue seemed to get along famously. They could chat each other's ears off for hours if Gansey let them. And he almost did on the way over to the forest, but Ronan had other ideas.

The raven they had found while in Helen’s helicopter was truly amazing, but the real holy grail was the forest they had come across. Gansey had run into the field like a jubilant child, and he could feel himself getting closer to Glendower every day now. Ronan had seemed particularly interested but hid it underneath his stone exterior. Blue was fresh faced and brand new to everything but seemed to know a great amount of energy. Noah had felt a pang of familiarity from years ago, but couldn’t be sure if it was the same place he had discovered on his own search. Adam seemed like he would’ve rather been any place then there, and had declined to go in with them, opting to stay by the helicopter instead. 

Gansey made sure to write everything he had encountered that day in his journal. He couldn’t let any of that information waste into the void of forgotten memories, no matter how well he was. It was better to have it in written form. Everything like Ronan had said to him late at night, had gotten bigger somehow. For years he had almost felt like he had come to a stalemate, but now the hunt was back on, bigger and more alive than ever. And these four people he had met in Henrietta, who were magnificent in their own ways, would play a part in finding Glendower.

Cabeswater, as they had found out the name of the forest was after Ronan had discovered it written on stone in Latin, in his own handwriting, was the most magical thing Gansey had ever encountered. He had in his hunt for ley lines and magical energy, seen some pretty incredible things, but this took first place in a landslide. 

The trees seemed to be sentient beings and spoke to them. In Latin, which Gansey was just one step above abysmal at, but Adam and Ronan seemed to have no problem understanding. Adam had come on this particular excursion out to the woods, with the same amount of hesitance, but after he had stepped foot into Cabeswater he seemed to be at home here. Gansey had never seen him more comfortable in a place, which was magical in itself. He also seemed more...alive. Adam always walked and talked like he was dead on his feet like it took all his willpower to just be standing. He’d become more active when Blue had come along. 

Like the first time, they experienced a shift in time, slowing down or picking up the pace, or even stopping completely. The seasons changed within a walk, and no matter where they went, it seemed it was a new part of the forest. Gansey couldn’t be sure just how big and vast the place really was. 

Adam and Ronan had led the way. To them, the trees were speaking a language they could understand; to Gansey and the others it just seemed like it was the rustling of leaves blowing in the wind, but he could see and hear that there was a sort of animation to it that normal forests and trees lacked. 

They emerged in a clearing. It was peculiar looking, and almost out of place in the forest. Ronan had walked up to see a bike that was resting against a tree. Gansey followed him to see it better. It was extremely rusted over, the red paint job just barely visible. The tires had gone flat, and the handlebars were missing the protective covering so whoever was riding didn’t cut themselves. Pollen and other debris from the forest created another coat over the rust. It seemed like it had been sitting idly for a long time. 

“What a piece of shit,” Ronan commented still looking at the pathetic thing. 

Gansey turned around, curious as to how a bike could’ve gotten here in the first place. He saw Noah crouched down in a catcher’s position looking intently at something. Gansey walked over next to Noah and saw he was looking at tire tracks. 

They looked pretty fresh and new, meaning that someone had been here recently. And just a few feet to the right, there was another set, much deeper like whoever had been driving wanted to get out quickly. Noah scratched his head like he was confused and thinking hard. 

“These tire tracks look like the ones on my Mustang leave. Who would drive a Mustang to a forest? Especially with mud,” he wondered out loud.

Gansey stood back up and saw that there were also footprints. He looked behind himself to see if he had left any, or if any of his friends had, but there were only three sets. He walked over to where the bike was perched and saw light footprints of what seemed like Adidas sneakers were left but then disappeared into thin air. By what could’ve been tire tracks from a fancy sports car, he saw the shoes seemed to be much larger and were in fact not sneakers but nicer shoes. 

“Ronan, are there footprints by the other set of tire tracks?” Gansey asked. 

“Looks like work boots to me. Whoever it was, it looked as if they were running or something, the prints are all fucked up.” 

Noah popped up from a bush nearby where he was standing. In his hand was a large rod, and he looked surprised at his find. Gansey walked over and Noah handed it over. He was holding a contraption that was filled with sticks and springs. He was holding the main piece, and then the other pieces came right into place. And then Gansey understood at once what he was holding. 

“It’s a dowsing rod.” 

He looked to Ronan for an answer of some sort. His blue eyes were narrowed at the contraption.

“Coincidence,” he grunted, meaning it wasn’t. Then he twisted around with his arms crossed over his chest. “Where’s Blue and Adam?” 

Blue reappeared and stepped over a log, back into the clearing from the place she had been.

“Adam’s throwing up,” she stated.

“Why is he doing that? Is he sick?” Gansey questioned. Adam hadn’t seen under the weather today which was strange. He had seemed just fine before they entered here.

Blue crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll ask him. As soon as he’s done  _ puking _ .”

Gansey winced at her choice of words. Ronan’s expression brightened on his face, ready to quip. Noah seemed amused at the situation. 

“I think you’ll find Gansey prefers the word  _ vomiting _ . Or  _ evacuating _ ,” he said with a sharp smirk on his face.

“I think retching is the most specific word, in this case,” Blue added playing along happily with this game. 

“Retching!” he said without a concern in the world. 

“Where is he? Adam!” he walked away from the tire tracks and footprints going the way Blue had just come in search of their other friend.

Blue turned her attention to the rod in Gansey’s hand. Her eyes widened in recognition and pointed at it. 

“Where did you find that? A dowsing rod!” 

“Noah found it in a bush by one of the tire tracks.”

“But that means someone else was looking for the ley line.” 

Gansey noticed Noah had come to stand next to him. He looked a little troubled about the situation, his light blonde hair sticking up from when he’d run his hand through it. He turned to the two of them. 

“This looks like a rod I would’ve made on my searches.” 

Blue looked at him like he had shared life changing information. Gansey had forgotten that she hadn’t met him until a few days ago. 

“What do you mean?” she asked. 

He shrugged his shoulders, but his face was still pinched together. He kept looking back at the tire tracks and the fancy shoe footprints. Like he was afraid they’d disappear if he didn’t keep looking. 

“When I went to Aglionby, my friend and I went searching for ley lines. More because it seemed like a cool scavenger hunt to do in our free time. But I’ve made rods very similar to that one in Gansey’s hand,” he explained. “I wonder who would just leave one here though, they’re not easy or cheap to make. I would’ve made sure I took it with me before driving off.” 

Gansey looked up at all the trees surrounding him. Then glanced at the rusted bike and tire tracks. It was all such a bizarre situation they had found themselves in. In the distance, he heard low voices coming from Ronan and Adam. 

“I think we’d better go. I think we need more information.” 

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Gansey felt nervous dialing the phone number to 300 Fox Way. Adam had given it to him at first to make an appointment with the women who lived there, and the last time hadn’t gone all too well for him. But now he seemed to be forging a friendship with Blue, and he wanted to go exploring with someone. Adam had disappeared to wherever he goes, Gansey assumed it was one of the three mysterious jobs he works. Ronan was too busy taking care of his new bird he had become the parent of, and couldn’t be bothered to do anything else. Noah was busy doing school and administrative paperwork for the weekend, though he had been very bummed to not be able to go and blow off his work. Blue seemed to be the only person around, he hoped. 

He bit the bullet and pressed the call button before placing his phone to his ear. The phone rang for a few long moments before someone picked up. 

“Hello?” a feminine voice answered. 

Gansey cleared his throat and stood up straighter. “I’d like to speak to Blue, please, if she’s in.” 

“Blue is getting ready to walk other people’s dogs. And it’s a good thing you got her and not someone else.”

He felt a small smile form on his face, and he felt relief. “I was prepared for that eventually. Still, I’m glad I caught you. How are you doing? Well, I trust?” 

“You trust right,” she said after a moment. 

Gansey really smiled and brightened. “Brilliant. Adam is working today, I assume and Ronan is at church with his brothers at the moment, and Noah is bogged down in administrative school work I’m afraid. But I’d like to go out and just… look around. What we saw the other day has been bothering me and I’d like to go back to see it again. Do you want to…” he faltered at the end. He hoped she’d take him up on his offer, he wouldn’t like to go alone. 

She stayed silent on the other end. “I have to walk dogs,” was all she said. 

“Oh, well okay,” he said feeling deflated a little bit at the rejection. He hadn’t an idea why he felt that way. 

“But it’ll only take an hour,” she tacked on. 

He brightened significantly. “Oh, shall I pick you up, then?” he offered. 

“Oh no--I’ll uh, just meet you in the parking lot,” she said back. 

“Brilliant. Top shelf. I think this’ll be interesting. See you in an hour,” he concluded before hanging up. 

An hour later the two of them were driving in the Pig towards the forest again. Under usual circumstances, Gansey would wait to go back to a place as powerful and energized as Cabeswater had been. But, the scene they happened across the other day had worried Gansey into less sleep than he normally got with his insomnia. He wanted to know why people were there, he wanted to know who they were, and what they wanted. It just all seemed too suspicious to leave alone for too long. 

He had also wanted to go to the Church that was also on the ley line, where he had been parked outside of on St. Mark’s Eve, and where he recorded the strange occurrence of hearing him have a conversation with a girl, but not remembering having done it at all. It really was that moment that had led to this one. But the church could wait, for later or another day. 

Gansey had been lost in his thoughts. And only was shaken out of them when Blue yelled, “Turn here!” 

He shook his head and smiled at her. He yanked on the wheel and dropped a few gears on the shift. The sharp turn then made the glovebox open up spilling all its miscellaneous contents all over Blue who looked less than pleased. 

The edge of the forest came into view, and he put the car into park. Blue was still looking at her lap. 

“Why do you even  _ have _ this car?”

“Because it’s a classic. Because it’s unique,” he boasted. He loved this car more than most things in life. 

Blue looked over with her eyebrows arched and eyes narrowed. “But it’s a piece of crap. Don’t they make unique classics that don’t--” she stopped demonstrating that she couldn’t close the glove compartment no matter how many times she slammed it.

“Oh they do,” he agreed but felt a little miffed. He then took a mint leaf out of his pocket and placed it into his mouth and climbed out of the car. 

He had already gotten out his EMF reader, and stretched his back, raising his arms over his head, and basked in the late spring sun. Blue stuck her head out of the car and waved an EpiPen. 

“Whose is this?” she asked. 

He glanced over looking at it. “Mine. You’ve got to jimmy that latch to the right, then it’ll shut,” he instructed. 

Even though it was sunny at the moment, on the horizon by the mountains, large thunderstorm clouds were looming their way. Gansey frowned at them. 

“I hope the weather holds.”

Then he started to make his way towards Cabeswater, and his EMF reader beeping in front of him. 

“I feel like if there are others lurking around this place, we’d be noticed in an instant. We can’t be low profile because of your shirt,” Blue remarked dryly. 

Gansey would not be deterred by her quips. He lived with Ronan who did that to him on a daily basis. He held his head high. 

“Aquamarine is a wonderful color, and I won’t be made to feel bad for wearing it.” 

He turned around and smiled at Blue and pointed to her dress she was wearing. “Lead the way, Eggplant.” 

Blue rolled her eyes with her entire body it seemed, huffing before walking in front of him. The seasons were changing around them again, and time seemed to stop. The trees were rustling around them, no doubt trying to speak, but neither Blue nor Gansey could understand like their friends. But he had an idea of where to go. The trees seemed to be bending westward, and they followed that. 

“Thanks for coming, Jane.” 

She shot him a scathing look. “You’re welcome,  _ Dick _ ,” she spat.

That name pained Gansey. “Please don’t,” he pleaded. 

Gansey looked at the tiny girl next to him. He was amazed at how calm she seemed about all this magical stuff. It amazed him. 

“You’re the only one who doesn’t seem fazed by this. It’s not that I’m accustomed to it, but I’ve run across some unusual things before and I guess I just… but Ronan and Adam and Noah all seem...nonplussed.” 

She shrugged her shoulders at him. “I live with this, though. I mean, my mother is a psychic. All her friends are psychics. This is-- well, it’s not like it’s normal. But it’s how I always thought it would feel to be them. You know, to see things that other people don’t.” 

Gansey then admitted that he’d been Henrietta for eighteen months trying to find leads and had really only had a breakthrough when she came along. He couldn’t believe how incredibly easy it was to talk to her about things. She told him about her curse about kissing and killing her one true love. Which did sound like something out a Grimm brother’s fairy tale, but he believed her. And then he only felt it be fair that he share something personal about himself as well. He ended up explaining how he had been stung to death when he was ten years old and brought back to life. How he had heard a voice tell him, ‘ _ You will live because of Glendower. Someone else has died on the ley line when they should not, and so you will live when you should not _ .’ 

It was taxing to relive the memories of that horrible day. He had panic attacks for years after the incident, and still sometimes slipped. But he was glad to share with Blue, it felt like a weight had started to be lifted from his shoulders. The two of them continued to walk when the EMF reader died. Gansey found it weird, considering Cabeswater was filled with energy, or at least he had thought so. There was still so much to learn yet. He and Blue shared a look. Blue touched the machine. 

“Did we step off the line?” 

“I’m not sure how much of Cabeswater is on the line, or how wide it goes. Maybe?” he wasn’t sure though. 

They retraced their footsteps, but still no reading. “Is the battery dead?” 

Gansey shook his head, “I don’t know how to check.” Which sounded foolish when it came out of his mouth. 

He handed it off to Blue, and then the machine went buzzing again. He was shocked and so was she. “Take it back,” she demanded. And he did, and then it went dead again. 

“I keep thinking there must be a logical explanation.But there hasn’t been all week,” he observed. 

They kept walking, following the way the wind blew the trees. It was bright and sunny, Gansey wouldn’t think there was a storm brewing outside the boundaries of Cabeswater if he knew better. 

The machine then suddenly lost his energy reading again. Putting Blue and himself in the dark. Blue pursed her lips together. 

“What now?” she wondered. 

Something caught his eye underneath the EMF reader. Blue was looking at the spot too. 

“Step back. There’s--” 

Blue scrambled back like she’d seen a fire. “Oh my gosh,” she breathed out. And then said it again. “Oh, my--” and cut herself off. 

Gansey had moved the machine and saw that Blue had just stepped on something that looked very much like a human arm bone. He crouched down next to it to get a better look and started to dust the forest leaves off of it. Underneath followed a second bone, a filthy and poor looking watch circled around a wrist bone. Gansey couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Blue came up to Gansey and hovered her hand over his shoulder. 

“Oh no. Don’t touch it. Fingerprints,” she breathed out.

Gansey humored her, but he didn’t think it would matter much at this point. This skeleton was passed that point of no return, and was just that; a skeleton with stark white bones. Gansey continued to pick off the debris carefully to unravel the entire thing. He felt queasy and sick to his stomach as he did so. It was crumpled, one of the arms perfectly over where an abdomen would be, and the other next to the body and the legs in a crooked position. It just like in those cheesy crime shows Helen loved to watch when he was little. 

It was weird how the elements had kept things. There was no other life to this person besides the bones that remained. A cheap watch and a tie remained but no shirt or pants. At the feet were sneakers with the soles hanging out and holes covered the sides, and socks remained untouched with just bones inside now. 

Gansey looked up at Blue, who seemed shaken down to her very core. Gansey felt very much the same way. She was looking at the skull, that had been bashed in so many times, he doubted if there was still a face, he’d be unable to identify it. He also wondered why there was an arm tucked on the abdomen, thinking there was another injury this poor person died from. In the hollowness of bones, he gently stuck his hand in the cavity searching for something, and his hand grasped around something metal. He let a gasp before pulling out. 

In his hand was a bullet. It wasn’t big, but it was there. And it was covered in blood that had dried. He looked up at Blue, whose brown eyes were wide and her mouth hung open. 

“Oh my god,” she whispered. Her eyes left the bullet back to the rib cage and pointed at another thing. Gansey followed her finger. It was an Aglionby patch that had survived the weather and decay. 

“We should report this,” she said finally. 

Gansey was inclined to agree before he found another thing. “Wait.” 

He pulled out the wallet that had been underneath the person’s hipbone. It was a cheap thing, already falling apart and held together with duct tape. It was bleached from exposure. He opened it up and found there was no cash in there, and no credit cards. Peculiar considering this boy apparently had gone to Aglionby. But there was one card in there, and he slowly lifted it out.

When he saw whose face it was staring back at him, Gansey let out an audible gasp. And Blue followed. 

Adam’s face was on the driver's license. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

When Adam heard Gansey storm into Monmouth, he had a feeling something had just happened, and it all had to do with him. Noah was right behind him, looking rumbled and confused at Gansey’s anger. 

He had been lounging around with Ronan all day, helping him feed his little raven baby and pointlessly arguing over everything like they usually did together. It was overall not a horrible day in Adam’s afterlife. 

But at some point, Ronan had decided he wanted to be alone and walked into his room leaving no room for any invitation. It was around that time Adam had felt something weird shift inside of him like someone had stuck a hand inside and he was the puppet. It freaked him out enough to become invisible, but he didn’t want to leave Monmouth.

“Adam! You better be here!” Gansey had yelled as soon as he walked in the door. 

Noah searched for the light switch so the room wouldn’t be completely enveloped in darkness. Gansey seemed at the end of his patience, which an extremely rare side of him to show. Which worried Adam even more. 

He had a feeling they discovered who he really was. But he wanted to know how they had done it. 

“We need to talk. Adam!” he shouted again. 

Ronan had opened his door to see what all the commotion was about. He still had Chainsaw coddled to his chest and he ripped his headphones off his head and put them around his neck. He arched an eyebrow at Gansey and Noah. 

“Man, you’re home late. Czerny? Thought you had work to do for the school or whatever the fuck.”

“I was doing work,” Noah said finally finding the light switch and turning his attention back to them. 

“Where’s Adam?” he demanded. 

Ronan glanced at Gansey’s rumbled state and arched his eyebrow. Gansey did look like he’d been rolling in dirt all day. “He’s probably working or something.” 

Gansey shook his head vehemently and stepped forward. “ _ No _ , he is not. Adam!” he shouted. 

He started searching around the apartment floor. Adam saw Noah and Ronan share a glance of worry and utter confusion on how this is a problem over Adam of all people. He stopped his search and whipped towards Ronan. 

“What’s Adam’s last name?” he questioned. “We’ve known him for how long now? Two years?” 

Ronan looked as if he was thinking about it but was stumped on the question. “I don’t know.” 

Gansey made a finger gun, which made Adam flinch even if he was invisible still to everyone around him. “It’s Parrish by the way. Adam Parrish.” Then he threw his head up back looking at the ceiling. “I know you’re here Adam!” 

“Dude, you’re flipped,” Ronan quipped. 

“Tell me, what classes do you share with Adam.” 

Ronan snorted. “None, the smart asshole.” 

Noah looked as if he had seen a ghost. Which Adam thought was the truth really. He looked paler than usual, and his gray eyes were wide in fear. Gansey and Ronan hadn’t noticed yet. 

Gansey walked like he had proven another point. “Me neither. How is that possible? When does he eat? Have you ever seen him eat?” he bulldozed on. 

Ronan looked annoyed at this spectacle and rolled his eyes. “I don’t really care,” he said rubbing Chainsaw’s head gently. 

He continued on his questioning. 

“Dude, you have really left the reservation. What is your problem?” he spat finally. 

“I spent the afternoon with the police. I went back to the clearing at Cabeswater with Blue--” 

Adam now felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water all over his body. But he also felt a stab of jealousy that Gansey had been with Blue all day. He knew it wasn’t fair, he never stood a chance with Blue in the first place, but he liked to pretend he did for a little while. It made him feel more alive. But Noah and Ronan looked at Gansey like he was insane, to which he scoffed at them. 

“Don’t look at me like that, both of you.The point is this. We found a body. Rotted to the bones. Do you know whose it was?” 

Ronan and Noah stared at each other like they were slowly coming to the same conclusion but didn’t want it to be true. Adam didn’t want it that way either. But he figured he can’t hide forever, and now was a better time than ever. If there was one thing he learned from his father, it was to just get it over with. The faster it happened, the faster it ended. 

He took a moment to himself and then made himself materialize into the room with the rest of them. He was behind Gansey and Ronan. 

“Mine,” he whispered. 

Gansey and Ronan nearly jumped out of their skin as they turned around to face him. He was standing by the empty room they used for storage of useless junk they accumulated. Ronan looked tense. 

“You weren’t here just now,” he said. 

Noah had moved up to stand next to them. Adam made eye contact with him, staring at him for a few long moments. The older man looked as if he was about to cry. Adam felt weary and heavy, considering he didn’t have a body and was more of a decaying soul at this point. He sighed heavily. 

“I told you,” he whispered, “I told everyone.” 

Noah closed his eyes wincing. Ronan kept staring at him intensely, and Gansey looked as if he was gaining is composure again after coming in guns blazing in a frenzy. He took a deep breath for himself and looked at Adam too, his hazel eyes sad. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest. 

“He’s dead. You’re really dead aren’t you?” 

“I  _ told _ you,” he responded plaintively.

“Shit man, all those times you gave me grief about taking care of myself, and you don’t even have to do that shit for you,” Ronan commented scoffing. Adam appreciated that he broke the silence of sadness that had surrounded the four of them. 

Noah took a tentative step forward like he was scared Adam would do something to hurt him. Adam would never do anything to hurt them, not on his own free will. He loved his friends, and he was already on the precipice of losing them now because of this revelation that just unfolded. 

“How did you die?” he quietly asked. 

Adam bowed his head and crossed his arms over his abdomen. He shook his head. He can’t tell them. He can’t drag those memories back up to the surface, he could become too unpredictable with his emotions if he did.  

“No, that’s not the question, is it? The question is: who killed you?” Gansey inquired more brashly.

Adam hid his face away and resisted the urge to vanish into thin air. He also felt the surge of anger that hadn’t built up since his poltergeist encounter with his parents two years ago. He would not hurt his friends for wanting to help him. But he couldn’t help himself either. 

“If you can tell me,” he stared more calmly, “I can find a way to put the police on the trail.” 

Adam really didn’t want to be pushed any further. He was ashamed at being discovered, even when he dropped hints and had told them directly. But it had always been more of a game of his own confidence, see if he can get a reaction of some sort, but he never got the one he wanted. And now that they knew, and finally believed him, it wasn’t what he wanted at all. Adam didn’t know what he wanted and that drove him crazy. He didn’t know what he ever wanted it seemed. He had short-circuited when he had come back as a ghost, his body dead, his spirit in a purgatory limbo in his own personal hell of Henrietta, Virginia forever. All his goals were shot with a bullet and smashed with a rock to the face. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he muttered. If he could flush and was alive, he’d be as red as Ronan on a summer day. 

“Okay,” Gansey started, “Okay. What would you like to do?” he asked. 

Adam could feel his emotions building up inside of him. Around them, things started blowing and falling off the table and other ledges. Noah let out a visible chill and hugged himself. Adam couldn’t let himself get like this near his friends. He had to go somewhere else. He needed to disappear for a while. 

“I’d like…” he started. But it was too much, and he vanished away from them. 

 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Ronan was not privy to doing his own research. He left that stuff to Gansey and Adam when they nerded out together on the floor of Monmouth. But now that the new revelation that Adam had been in fact a ghost this entire fucking time he knew him, things changed. The guy got on his nerves more often than not, but he had grown to appreciate Adam, and before everything had gone to fucking shit, he had thought he was cute. 

I have a fucking crush on a goddamn ghost, he bitterly thought to himself. 

But he was brutally murdered by some asshole out there and had been rotting in Cabeswater for seven years alone. He and Gansey would find whoever the fuck did it and make sure they paid. Adam deserved justice. 

Gansey had looked him up online, to see if anything would come up. Seven years ago, the internet was still catching on, so there wasn’t much to go by. Just some things from the Aglionby website. 

_ Local Henrietta Aglionby Student Accepted to All Eight Ivy League Schools _ , was one of the headlines of an article from the  _ Henrietta Herald _ . Ronan was shocked at the revelation that Adam was smart enough to get accepted to all the fancy schools out there. In the corner of the article was a  young photo of Adam Parrish in black and white. He was in his Aglionby uniform but he looked to be fifteen, probably his freshman yearbook photo. 

Gansey was able to convince the librarian to let him look through old school records one day. Ronan and he sat at a table in the very back of the library, and Noah joined up with them too. He hadn’t been as chipper as he was known to be, he closed himself off after the discovery. Ronan thinks he knows something and wasn’t sharing. 

Adam Parrish’s transcripts were on the table, Gansey analyzing them all with an impressed look on his face. Ronan had opened up an old yearbook, the one that Adam would’ve been a senior in. He flipped to senior portraits, and went straight to the back looking for his last name in the alphabet; but as he got to the end, he saw that he was the only student under the  _ no photo available _ section. He had missed senior portraits. 

He didn’t seem to be in any clubs or organizations either. And no photographs of him within the pages. A wallflower if Ronan had ever seen one. But there were familiar faces. He saw Whelk, the Latin teacher Ronan and Gansey despised. He still looked as dorky as ever, just a little bit younger. 

And he was surprised to see Noah too. There was one photo of Whelk and Noah smiling for a camera, their arms around each other’s necks. It must’ve been a random day, and not a school one, as they were both in casual clothes. Nothing out of the ordinary stuck out at first until Ronan spotted something in Whelk’s hands that looked very familiar. 

Ronan turned to Noah, who was going through old assignments that the school for some reason felt the need to keep. Must’ve been examples of exemplary work or something along those lines. 

“Noah,” he called, “what is that in Whelk’s hands?” he asked demanding an answer. 

His pale face reddened at the photo. “A dowsing rod.” 

Gansey had looked up from his own research as well. “That one looks awfully like the one we found. It even has that weird green stripe of paint.” 

Noah’s eyes widened and he stood up straight like he’d been struck by lightning. He smacked himself in the face. 

“Jesus fucking Christ. How could’ve I been so stupid? Of course!” 

“Of course what?” Gansey inquired. 

Noah had stood up and started pacing. He ran a hand through his light hair, tugging at the roots. 

“Whelk! Oh my god that bastard.” he turned to the two of them. “I think Whelk may have killed Adam.” 

Gansey looked at a loss for words. “That is a very strong accusation to make, Noah. How could you be sure? Does Whelk own a gun? There were bullets found at the scene of the crime.” 

Noah shook his head. “No, Whelk didn’t own a firearm. They aren’t allowed in dorms here. But the tire tracks, they looked like they belonged to my car because they belonged to my car. Holy shit,” he breathed out. 

“You were there?” Ronan asked in fury standing up from his seat and making it smack to the ground. 

Noah startled. “No, of course not. Jesus fuck, no. Whelk had asked to borrow my car to get air, and I allowed him. I didn’t even think anything of it. Whelk had just lost all his fortune to a scandal and was moping and complaining about it. We had always talked about the idea that waking a ley line could possibly give a favor to whoever did it. I think that was what he was trying to do. He would be desperate enough. Oh my god.”

He looked like he was about to have a panic attack. Gansey sensed that and walked over to the older man hoping to calm him down. Ronan was shit when it came to stuff like this. 

“What about the gunshots? Do you have any inkling as to what could’ve happened?” Gansey asked. 

“I can tell you,” a soft murmur came. 

Adam, who had been absent for a few days after the big reveal, was standing behind him. It was impossible to ever think that he had been alive when Ronan knew him, looking at him now. He had no idea how he’d even tricked himself into believing that. Adam was so...unalive. Gansey jumped on the opportunity. 

“Adam, please tell us,” he begged. 

“My father,” he whispered. 

“Your father? What in God’s name?” Gansey muttered to himself in disbelief. Adam just sighed heavily. 

“He had followed me after I biked from school. I had found Cabeswater on accident. Even then I could hear the trees, and I had no idea what it really meant, but I found it and I liked going there to be alone when I wasn’t working my three jobs.

“I had just accepted to go to Harvard that fall, and my father found out how much I’d have to pay every year and threw a fit. Of course, I didn’t know he knew until he stomped out of his truck after me. He started yelling every which way, cussing me out, calling me names. He pushed me to the ground and leveled a gun at me. I had always been afraid he’d kill me with that thing, but I didn’t expect to actually happen. Next thing I knew, he had shot me twice in the stomach and fled.” 

Ronan felt furious at the story. He could feel himself getting worked up, his body was heating up and he clenched his fists tight. Ronan needed to punch something, preferably Adam’s garbage father. 

“I’ll kill that son of a bitch,” Ronan growled in anger. 

“Killing him will only cause more problems. His name is Robert Parrish if that’s of any help with the cops or whatever.” 

“Adam, you can’t expect me to just sit idly by while your fucking father gets away with murdering you in the woods, and leaving you there to rot,” Ronan seethed. 

Adam gave a glare to him, his mouth pinched in a frown. “He only started the process, I could’ve been saved but then I got my head smashed by a rock and that’s what killed me. I’ve said too much.” 

“Adam!” Ronan shouted, but where Adam had been was now empty space. Rona cursed and kicked the chair further. 

He was kicked out of the library soon after. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

It felt wrong for the world to keep on spinning as if nothing had ever gone wrong. Ronan had just gotten into a fight with Declan over the fact he’d been skipping class and was on the brink of expulsion, yet again because of it. Ronan found it so fucking insignificant in the whole scheme of things. How the fuck was it fair that Ronan who hated Aglionby with his entire being, had to be there to get his diploma, while Adam, who had killed himself with three jobs to get there, and wanted to be there, actually got killed for his troubles and dreams smashed in the process? It wasn’t fair at all. And he went to Church praying to God why the fuck it had to be this way when it shouldn’t be. It was wrong that Gansey went back home for his mother’s birthday party, while there was a fucking murder investigation going on with Adam as the victim. 

Dead for seven goddamn years. And no one had known none the better. Noah had told them how they were told he had dropped from school weeks before graduation because of a mental breakdown and was shipped someplace far away. If someone had told him that, he would’ve screamed bullshit. Adam would suffer a mental breakdown if it meant he’d get that diploma and get the fuck out of Henrietta. 

He heard a knock on the door and saw Blue and Noah’s heads sticking through it. Ronan wanted to be alone, but he grudgingly allowed them to enter. The two of them walked in and sat down next to the mini-Henrietta Ronan was sitting next to. He was gently petting Chainsaw who had grown significantly in the past few weeks. Both Blue and Noah looked solemn, which Ronan saw was appropriate considering all the shit that has gone down. Ronan heaved a loud sigh. 

“Do you want to hold her?” he asked.

Blue looked surprised that he was holding Chainsaw. He rolled his eyes and withdrew the offer. 

“What are you doing?” she asked. “I want to.” 

He gently placed her in Blue’s hands who cupped her carefully and delicately. She looked awestruck at the little raven. Ronan thought Chainsaw was cute too. 

“What’s her name?” she asked. 

“Chainsaw,” he grunted out. 

She started crying, and Blue held her hands back out to give her back to Ronan to care for. 

“You look like a super villain with your familiar,” Noah said. A smirk broke out onto Ronan’s face. 

The door creaked open suddenly, and then Adam appeared and sat down in the open space they had made. No one questioned it, and no one mentioned it to him. He rubbed the back of his neck. 

“I’m feeling better,” he said. 

Everyone looked at him but didn’t say anything. Ronan was still put on edge over the entire situation, and it wasn’t Adam’s fault, but the shitty circumstances he was thrown into. He blinked, once, twice. 

“I want you to know,” he started. “I was... _ more _ ...when I was alive.” 

Ronan believed him, but it was just hard to imagine that this boy could’ve ever been more than what he was now. And he hated himself for thinking that, but it was true. Ronan didn’t lie to himself. Blue put her hand over his, which garnered a smile from Adam. 

“You’re enough now. I missed you,” she told him. 

“Hey, man. All those times you wouldn’t give me notes because you said I should probably go to class. You never went to classes,” he said trying to break the tension. 

“But you did, didn’t you, Noah?” Blue asked, “you were an Aglionby student.” 

Adam nodded silently in response. Noah agreed as well. “I remember Adam being the top of every class he was in. I always admired your ambition. Better than me at least, at that point, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was the opposite, totally ambitionless.”  

“Can you remember things?” she asked. 

Adam shrugged his shoulders, and his eyes narrowed. “I mean, I don’t know,” he stumbled. 

Blue offered her hand to him. “Take it. When I’m at readings with my mom, and she needs to get focused, she holds my hand. Maybe it will help you.” 

He looked at Blue before holding it. He heaved a sigh like it was the first time he’d breathed in a while. Ronan thought, he can’t breathe, he’s dead. He hated that thought. 

“I can remember my grades, and dates on them,--seven years ago,” he said. 

Ronan had already known it was seven years because he was the same age as Noah. But he liked to be reassured. 

“The same year Gansey died,” Ronan informed. Then he recited the same words he’d spoken to him over the years. It couldn’t have been a coincidence. 

“The thing that Whelk did to you. It was a ritual that he thought would wake up the line, that you happened to be on, or nearby.” 

“I think this was the ritual Gansey had told me about once. So Whelk did try it then, and it failed. He tried to kill you for the power, and it didn’t work for him,” Ronan said. 

Adam silently agreed with a shrug of his shoulders. “I guess I almost woke it up. I mean I was in Cabeswater, but at the time I didn’t know it. And I don’t think Whelk did either, and I still don’t think he does. The bastard doesn’t deserve it. I’m glad it didn’t work for him. I don’t think he understands the significance of it,” Adam added. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Gansey had assumed that after they had discovered Whelk as the main suspect of killing Adam, he had fled the area. He hadn’t shown up to teach Latin in the days after the matter, and as much as Gansey wanted to put him behind bars, speculation got him nowhere. There was no evidence that it had been Whelk to do the deed. The murder weapon wasn’t found, and it could’ve been any Mustang that had driven by into that clearing, and wore a size eleven shoe. There just wasn't enough evidence stacked against him. And once couldn’t possibly take the word of a ghost, even if said ghost was correct. The police would laugh in his face.  

But then he met Whelk on the side of a highway after the Pig broke down on his way back from his parents’, got into a fight where he was held hostage by Whelk with a gun, punched the gun out and broke his thumb in the process. It was a stressful night indeed so far. 

Now Gansey had called everyone to assemble at 300 Fox Way, to see how they could stop Whelk from gaining the power of the ley line. Whelk had somehow known information that Gansey didn’t really keep secret, but had never told the man himself about. And he seemed desperate to get it. 

The house was more crowded than usual. And Gansey was trying to frantically explain everything. He had to stop at the hospital first to get his broken thumb splinted and taken care of. But now they were all discussing ley lines and possibilities and how Whelk fit in the picture. 

“Do you think he has an interest in you?” Blue’s mother, Maura asked. 

“I don’t know if he’s ever had an interest in me. I don’t think he had a plan. He wanted the journal. He wants Glendower,” he responded.

Maura tilted her head. “But he doesn’t know where Glendower is?” 

“No one does,” Gansey said. “I have a colleague in the UK who told me about the ritual that Whelk used Adam for. It’s possible he might try it in a different part of Cabeswater, possibly closer to the ley line this time perhaps.” 

“I think we should wake it,” Maura’s half-sister Neeve said. Gansey didn’t like her all too much. 

Calla, looked at her like she was crazy. “Excuse me? I’m pretty sure I heard it involved a dead body.” 

Neeve didn’t look too disturbed by the fact. “Not necessarily. A sacrifice isn’t always death.” 

Gansey didn’t know where she was coming from, and he didn’t believe her. “Even assuming it’s true, Cabeswater is a bit of a strange place. What would the rest of the ley line be like if we woke it up?” he wondered. 

“I’m not sure. I can tell you right now though it will be woken, though. I don’t even need my scrying bowl to see that.” She turned to Persephone. “Do you disagree?” 

The woman with the blonde hair held her mug to her face hiding it. “No, that’s what I see as well. Someone will wake it in the next few days.” 

“And I do not think it will be Mr. Whelk,” Neeve added. “Whoever wakes up the corpse road, will be favored by the corpse road. Both the one who sacrifices and the one who is sacrificed.” 

The conversation went back and forth between all parties. Gansey didn’t like the idea of the power that would or could come from waking a ley line. There were too many unknown variables. But he also knew he didn’t want Whelk to get ahold of that power either. He didn’t feel like he had any other choice but to stop him. Gansey looked at all the women and his friends that surrounded him. 

“I’m going back to Cabeswater. He took my journal, and I’m not letting him take Glendower too. I’m not going to stop looking just because he’s looking, too. And I’m going to fix Adam, somehow.” 

Blue stood up next to him. “I’ll help you.” 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Robert Parrish was arrested the following Monday. The police of both Henrietta, who were easily bribed at best, and the state police of Virginia who had more backbone had investigated the ridge markings of the bullets found at the scene in which Gansey gladly gave over, and analyzed the footprints that belonged to Robert Parrish, along with the tire tracks of his blue pickup. Whelk was still at large, hiding somewhere. 

The markings had matched that of the handgun he had legally registered, and with some character witnesses from the neighbors, told the police about the history of domestic and child abuse that came from the Parrish household through Robert. Jolene Parrish was found innocent and had broken down into tears at the mention of her only son being murdered. Her alibi checked out. 

Gansey had read all of this in the Henrietta Herald. It was front page news. Nothing much ever happens in rural Virginia, and when a dead body is found, a murder mystery is the most interesting thing that will be the talk of the news and people for at least the next six months. Adam’s body, or what was left of it, had been taken and given over to his mother who was going to be in charge of his funeral. Gansey had wanted to do it himself but had been talked down by Ronan who told him Adam would probably never forgive him for giving an elaborate and fancy funeral. Instead, it would be small and as much money as a poor family living in a trailer park could afford. But Gansey had ignored it and paid for the church service and car service under an anonymous donor. 

The funeral and wake would be next week. Gansey wanted to put the hunt for Whelk and the ley line on hold because it didn’t seem right to keep going when Adam had all but disappeared since his body was taken from his source of energy. Now all he heard was bit and pieces of him, his voice whispering next to him, a shadow in the corner of his eye. The faint smell of gasoline that he had come to associate with Adam. 

But at the same time, he couldn’t. Too much was at stake to wait another second. And Gansey felt guilty but had the consolation that his friends agreed and felt the same way.  Every hour they waited, Whelk grew closer to finding the hotspot of the ley line and waking it with Gansey’s journal. Gansey did not want someone else to fall victim to his madness like Adam had seven years prior. He would not allow it; he couldn’t allow it. 

At the same time, Malory’s story about his colleague getting his skin fleshed off his body during a similar ritual, shook Gansey. He couldn’t risk his friend’s safety for the greater good of Glendower search. He felt so conflicted inside. 

He was laying on his bed, and folded the newspaper over his face and let out a self-deprecating groan. Blue was there sitting next to him, trying to cheer him up. Gansey wondered why everything had to turn so complicated. 

Gansey felt the familiar chill he’d also come to associate with Adam. He took the paper covering his eyes and looked over to where he felt it. First, he saw a pair of legs, and then slowly Adam formed so he was complete. He looked more whispy than smudgy, his energy low, but he was glad Adam was here. 

“What’d I miss?” he asked with a small smile. It had been a long while since he came back. 

“Oh, Malory called Blue saying how he had tried to do a similar sacrifice on the ley line only to have his partner have his skin flayed off. So I’m not risking it with anyone,” he summarized. 

“And he’s feeling sorry for himself,” Blue added. 

Adam nodded but he looked deep in thought. “I thought you always said you needed to find Glendower?” 

Gansey nodded along. “I do, but not at the risk of my friends.” 

“So you’ll do it yourself?” Blue asked. 

Gansey scoffed at the idea. “No, I’ll find another way. I would love to have the ley line’s power pointing giant arrows to where he is, but I’ll just keep plodding along the old way.” 

“I don’t care about the risk,” Adam pointed out. 

“Me neither,” Ronan added. 

He sat up on his bed and looked at his friends. He pointed at Adam, “You have nothing to lose,” and then to Ronan, “And you don’t care if you live or die. That makes you both bad judges.” 

Adam crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Gansey. Even though he didn’t seem as solid as he normally did, he still looked human enough. But just a little ghoulish at the same time. 

“I’m dead, so of course I have nothing to lose. If I do the sacrifice, then what can possibly harm a dead person anyway? I say we do it.” 

Gansey shook his head no in protest. “That is exactly why you can’t do it, Adam. You’ve already been a victim of this sort of sacrifice. I won’t allow you to do it again.” 

Now Adam looked furious. He took a step forward, or floated forward? It was hard to tell now. He pointed a finger at Gansey, but it just faded out instead of hitting him. 

“You listen here, you will not be the person to tell me what I can or what I cannot do. I may be dead, but I can still make my own goddamn decisions and you will not take that freedom away from me. I have already lost everything, the only thing I have left from my own life is my choice to do what I want when I want. If I want to be the sacrifice, then fuck, god damn it I will. Gansey, you have been searching for too god damn long, and I’ll be damned if you lose your shot because you were too scared to do something,” Adam ranted. His Henrietta accent came out the louder he got. Gansey had thought he had finished but he just paused. 

“We don’t have time to find another way. If Whelk wakes it up, he’ll get an advantage. Plus, he speaks Latin. What if the trees know? If he finds Glendower, he gets the favor, and he gets away with _ killing me! _ Game over, bad guy takes all. It would be a greater injustice if he gets that and we don’t.” 

And like that he vanished before Gansey could even debate back with him. He stared at the area where his friend had just been. 

“Adam!” he shouted, “ADAM!” 

“He’s not fucking here, man,” Ronan said, “and he’s right.” 

Gansey ran a hand through his hair and started to pace back and forth. He had to believe that Adam wouldn’t do anything stupid. But now with the information that he is a ghost and can, in fact,  _ ghost _ anywhere, he wasn’t sure that he would stay away from Cabeswater. 

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Blue said a worried look pinched on her face. Gansey agreed wholeheartedly. 

But he had to hope that Adam wouldn’t do something they’d all come to regret. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Ronan woke to something shifting wrong in his gut. It had been a single night where no night horrors had plagued his dreams in fear and pain. His room was completely dark, only the moon shining some light. 

“Ronan,” he heard a light whisper. He could tell it was Adam’s voice. He rubbed his eyes to get the sleep out. 

“Adam?” he answered back. 

He couldn’t see Adam, but he could practically feel his presence. “I have to do it. Don’t be mad,” he whispered and then was gone. 

Ronan got up out of bed. “Shit, fuck, Adam. Gansey’s going to flip,” he muttered to himself. 

He slammed the door open and strode over to where Gansey was actually sleeping for once. He shook his body to wake him up. 

“Gansey, wake the fuck up already.” 

Gansey blinked wearily, his eyes squinting, before reaching out and putting on his wireframes to see. He seemed confused as to why Ronan was standing above him. 

“Ronan, what the hell?” 

“Adam went,” he said cutting to the chase. 

That seemed to wake him up in an instant. “What? How do you know?” 

“He fucking whispered it into my ear, dumbass, before vanishing. We need to go.”

He scrambled up and slipped on a pair of shoes before running down the stairs and into the parking lot. The Pig and BMW sat side by side. Ronan already slid his keys out of his pocket and was going towards his driver’s side. 

“Get in the car Gansey, no time for arguments.” 

He looked longingly at his car but did so without complaint. The BMW was less likely to crash and burn in a time sensitive situation. Ronan had driven like a mad man to Fox Way and picked up Blue before driving at least thirty miles over the speed limit down the interstate towards Cabeswater. Ronan had a feeling this would be the only time Gansey would ever let his reckless driving off the hook. Gansey had called Noah to join up, to which he agreed. 

When they arrived, Gansey gave out flashlights so they would be able to see where they were going. They had parked nearby where Adam’s bike was found. Blue looked apprehensive at the forest spread before them. Even Ronan admitted to himself that Cabeswater at night was intense, but he knew it would not harm them. 

“What is Adam thinking?” Gansey wondered out loud as they continued their trek. “How can you mess with…” his own question was answered when they came across said bike. 

In the unearthly golden light, it looked surreal compared to the first time Ronan saw the rustbucket. Back then it had meant nothing to him but at the same time everything to Adam. Blue had walked up to it, with Ronan, Noah, and Gansey following. Since he’d been here, the footsteps had vanished and in its wake, in tilted handwriting, someone had written: MURDERED. 

Blue looked up, “Adam? Adam are you here with us? Did you write this?” 

Gansey and Noah spoke at the same time. “Oh.” 

Ronan looked, and right below where another footprint had been, in the same tilted handwriting, the letters were being quickly written out like it was in a rush to be somewhere else. 

MURDERED 

And then another word where another footprint was. 

MURDERED. 

And another. 

MURDERED. 

And another. 

MURDERED. 

Gansey looked miserable. “Adam, I’m so sorry,” he apologized. 

Blue wiped a tear. “Me too.” 

Noah wiped more than a few tears. “I’m sorry I didn’t do anything sooner,” he wept. 

Ronan stepped forward and next to all the words, he wrote something bigger for all to see. 

REMEMBERED. 

The coldness from Adam’s presence evaporated, and Ronan knew they had to keep moving. Adam probably knew where to go, and it was just a matter of finding where he went. Time was of the essence. 

Gansey heaved a sigh, “Excelsior.” 

“What does that mean?” Blue wondered. 

“Onward and upward.” 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Whelk could not believe his luck at this point in time. He really couldn’t. Just when he thought he had the upper hand, everything came crashing to shit around him. Sure he had Gansey’s stupid journal, and yes it was chock full of information he and Czerny never even would dream of having when he was his age. 

But then fucking Adam Parrish’s body was found, and he’d somehow been figured out as a murder suspect. And then he held Gansey at gunpoint at the side of the road, and now had been kidnapped by a crazy psychic who had turned his plan on him, so he’d be the one to be killed instead to get the power. 

Like he said, it’s been a really fucking shitty day. But in a silver lining of this shit show, he had been able to break free of his bonds and then flipped the plan onto the woman who had kidnapped him so she’d be his sacrifice. 

The noise of this place was enough to drive him insane. So much noise and screaming of whatever the fuck it is about this forest. He knew it was the place he’d tried to wake the line the first time, but he’d fucked it up for nothing, and now he just hoped this was a prime spot for energy. The pentagram and candles and other psychic shit she’d brought with her seemed much more professional than his plan of winging it. 

He had just kicked the dark bowl out of frustration when he looked up to see a familiar face he’d hoped he’d never encounter. Adam Parrish stood before him, looking just like he did when he was alive. He looked a little more ghoulish, and he was smudgy and faded. There was a giant black mark on his cheek that hadn’t been there before. And he was fixing Whelk the nastiest glare he’d ever seen. 

“For the love of God.  _ How _ ?” he asked throwing his hands up in frustration.

Adam Parrish took a step forward, and then suddenly he was right in front of Whelk. Whelk took a step back in surprise. Parrish looked much more like a poltergeist than a Casper the friendly ghost. There was a spark of fire that hadn’t always been there, or maybe it had, but was never actually directed towards him until now. 

“Why me?” He asked, “Why not someone horrible?” Even his voice sounded the same. 

Whelk scoffed. “I am not having this conversation. Why are you  _ here _ ?”

He scowled severely at Whelk, his face morphing from anger to fury. “I’m here to stop this from ever happening again. Untie her,” he demanded. 

How noble, Whelk thought to himself rolling his eyes. He felt two cold hands wrap around his throat. “Don’t laugh at me,” his voice had a chilling effect. 

“Just let go of me, and I won’t slice her face off.” 

“I didn’t come here for anyone to die,” his grip loosened just a little for some more breathing room, but didn’t let up, “but if you don’t let her go, I’ll kill you just the same.” 

He felt himself move with the ghost towards Neeve. “I’ll cut her face off,” he threatened though he really held no high ground over this poltergeist of his former schoolmate. 

“You’ll ruin the ritual if you do. Weren’t you listening? I thought you were interested in the process,” Neeve said sounding placid. 

“Fine, I’ll let her go.” Then he turned his attention to Neeve. “What do you mean it won’t work? Are you bluffing?” 

Neeve turned to Adam. “You can let go of him now, dear spirit. I won’t mind him.” 

Adam scowled but eventually did. Then he kicked the gun away into the bush from all of them. Whelk sucked in a deep breath of air and rubbed his throat. 

“And Barrington, the reason why it will not work is that the ritual needs a sacrifice,” she continued. 

Whelk frowned at the use of his first name. “You were planning on killing me,” he accused,” you expect me to believe that it doesn’t work the other way around?” 

“Yes,” she said looking towards Adam. “It must be a personal sacrifice. Killing me wouldn;t accomplish that. I’m nothing to you. And it was why when you killed this young man over here all those years ago, it didn’t work either. Honestly, Barrington, learn from your mistakes if anything,” she chastised in a condescending tone. 

“But I’m nothing to you,” he rebutted. 

She made a tsk sound at him. “But killing is. I’ve never killed anyone. I give up my innocence if I kill you. That is an incredible sacrifice.”

“And you’ve already killed someone, so you don’t have that to give up,” Adam growled at Whelk. 

Whelk started to curse to himself. 

“Mr. Whelk!” A voice came. And it belonged to Richard Gansey the Third of all people. Whelk cursed some more. 

He emerged from the clearing, with Ronan fucking Lynch, a girl he didn’t know--and Noah Czerny? What the fuck? 

“Czerny?” he asked. 

Whelk new his former roommate worked at Aglionby, but it was strange to see him in such a different context. Noah looked uncharacteristically angry at him. Gansey walked up front still looking prim and proper in the middle of a forest with a hostage. 

“Mr. Whelk, the police are on their way. I really recommend you step away from that woman to avoid making this any worse.”

Whelk turned to see that Neeve was gone. He kicked up some dirt and rocks in his anger cursing like a madman. He quickly glanced at the area of where Adam had kicked the gun. Then he lunged for it. Ronan Lynch met with him, tackling him like he was a linebacker on a football team, but Whelk had already gotten the gun. He smashed it on his jaw, making his head snap back. He pointed it at Gansey. 

The small girl screeched, “ _ Stop! _ ”  

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Adam jump into the pentagram. His form was fading, his energy fizzling out. But he crouched down with his head bowed, and his hands touching the ground below him. 

Out of all the chaos, he heard his words clear as day. “I sacrifice myself.” 

“Adam, no!  _ No _ !” Gansey shouted. 

“No, god damn it!” Whelk screamed as his own chance of power slipped from his fingers. 

A rushing sound came from around suddenly. Adam seemed to be energized, he looked human. He turned towards his friends, his blue eyes wide. The girl went towards Ronan where he was knocked down. Gansey looked frantic. 

“It’s an earthquake!” he yelled. 

“Look what you’ve done, you crazy bastard,” Ronan yelled to Adam. 

The ground was really shaking, but Whelk had managed to keep his footing well enough. He whipped towards Adam, fury filling his entire being. Oh, how he wished he could kill Adam Parrish all over again. 

“What would you know what to do with power?” he snapped. “You’re just fucking Poor Boy Parrish, who got the shit beaten out of him by his god damn father. You don’t know power or prestige if it hit you in the fucking face.” 

“What a waste. What a fucking waste.” He didn’t care anymore. He pointed the gun at Parrish and pulled the trigger. 

Shouts came from around him as his friends stood by. What would a fucking bullet do to a ghost anyway? Gansey stumbled forward; the ground was still shaking. 

“Why was I so awful?” he asked. 

Parrish looked dazed and sad. It was a different look from the fury he had given Whelk just a few minutes ago. He shook his head. “It was never about you.”

The tiny girl with spiky hair came next to Gansey. “But Adam, what did you do?” 

“What needed to be done.”

Whelk let out a groan. That might as well be taken out of a fucking Greek tragedy. Adam steeled his gaze onto Whelk again, his face becoming stony. He looked down at the gun in his hand. 

“I think you should give that back to me,” he demanded. “I don’t think Cabeswater wants you to have it. I think if you don’t give it to me, it might take it.” 

Something in the air shifted. Everyone noticed it. The trees started to rustle more vibrantly, and there was energy pulsing around them. 

“Take cover!” Ronan Lynch shouted. 

Then the noise became much louder, and not so much just rustling of leaves, but more. 

“Something’s coming!” The spiky girl screamed. 

She pulled all her friends away by the sleeves of their shirts. Parrish remained in the pentagram. Whelk needed to find a way out before whatever was coming his way, came. But then, suddenly, a horde of animals came before he could escape. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Gansey was still coming to terms with the fact that his old Latin teacher, Barrington Whelk had died in Cabeswater that night. That Adam had sacrificed himself, for the same ritual that had taken his life seven years before him. And that it was now the end of the school year; Ronan passed his classes if just barely, Declan was now off Gansey’s case about it for the time being. Gansey had recovered his journal from Whelk, and Blue was ready to welcome more time exploring ley lines, now that their own had been awoken. And because of that fact, power outages had become a common occurrence in Henrietta; and now, he was attending the funeral of Adam Parrish. Even though the ley line had awoken, Adam was all but gone now. His body had been taken off the line, and he had lost his energy with it.

The wake had been really, a dismal affair. The Parrishes hadn’t been all too religious, just barely enough to attend mass at Easter or Christmas depending on the year. And they hadn’t been all too popular at home; mostly keeping to themselves and no one else. But it really was sad to see, Adam’s mother is the sole person to greet the people who did decide to come alone; a husband in jail getting ready to be tried for homicide, and a dead son. 

Gansey had greeted her cordially. He realized that Adam got all his looks from his mother. They had the same dusty hair, and the tan skin and blue eyes, along with those Henrietta features that made him so fragile looking. She had a black veil covering her face when she started to cry. And only a handful of people attended; half of them being Gansey and friends. 

And it was the same with the funeral. It was hot outside, and Ronan looked uncomfortable wearing such formal clothes, as he kept pulling on his collar. The gravesite was on the edge of town, the most Adam’s mother could afford. The graves looked weathered down and beaten. And it felt just as dry and flat as the place where Adam used to call home. It really was depressing. Gansey saw Blue walk across the field, and in her typical fashion, she was wearing a green shirt with black lace covering it. Him, Noah and Ronan looked like groomsmen. She pointed a finger at him. 

“This is the best I could do,” she hissed. 

Ronan scoffed. “Like Adam would care. He’d probably find her cute in that outfit.”

“He’d appreciate it,” Noah reassured with a small smile. 

Gansey looked over to where Mrs. Parrish stood alone. There was a tarp covering the pile of dirt from eyes. He could see her shoulders heaving slightly and her black gloved hand covering her mouth. 

“Please say something to her,” Adam’s voice whispered in the wind. 

Blue whipped her head face the sound they’d heard. Gansey was surprised to hear his voice. She seemed to be in tune and heard more from Adam because she looked sadder suddenly. She looked down at the ground.

“I can’t, she whispered. “I would look like a crazy person. What good would it do? What could I possibly say?” 

Gansey put a hand on her shoulder. 

“What are you doing?” 

She ripped her arm from underneath him. Tears were forming in her eyes, smudging her eyeliner a little bit. She roughly wiped her hand away. “Humiliating myself!” 

“What did he say?” 

She didn’t answer as she made her way up to Mrs. Parrish alone. Gansey exchanged a glance with Ronan and Noah who looked concerned. Whatever she was saying, made Mrs. Parrish cry even more, and Blue put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Then she walked back. 

“What did he say, Blue?” Gansey asked. 

“To tell her he’s sorry,” she muttered sniffling. They all walked away from the grave site after. 

 

They all came back later on in the night. And then they dug him from his grave. Noah was leaning against the BMW, acting as the lookout. Gansey had made Ronan use the backhoe he had rented to dig up the dirt and then place the wood casket back in with the dirt piled up neatly again, and Gansey did the transferring of the bones into a duffle bag while Blue showed a flashlight in. 

Quickly, they all ran back into the BMW, eager to get out of the place before they got caught grave robbing their friend. Ronan had a smirk on his face, excitement lighting his face at the idea of doing something illegal. “This will all come out and bite you in the ass, you know when you’re running for Congress.” 

Gansey rolled his eyes. “Shut up and drive, Lynch.” 

They reburied Adam’s bones at the old church on the ley line. The place where all of this began. It had been Blue’s idea. 

“No one will bother him here,” she explained, “and we know it’s on the ley line. And it’s holy ground.”

“Well, I hope he likes it,” Ronan said stretching, “I’ve pulled a muscle.” 

When they had finished re-burying his bones, they all stood inside the walls, in silence. Gansey stuck a mint leaf into his mouth, and put his hands in his pockets and tilted his head down. He could feel Blue staring at him, and he found he liked it. 

“Why’d you pick here of all places? It’s creepy as hell,” a soft voice with a Henrietta accent said. 

They all spun around in euphoria to face Adam. He still looked smudgy, but he looked more whole. His shaggy hair was ruffled, and he had a small smile on his face looking at all of them. And his hands were in his khaki pockets as he leaned against the frame of the door to the church. 

“Adam!” Gansey cried happily. 

Blue had jumped and wrapped her arms around his neck, her feet dangling off the ground for a moment. Gansey heard him laugh, one that sounded surprised, but happy. Ronan nodded his head but had a big grin on his face. 

“Parrish.” 

Adam just looked at him with fond annoyance. “I’m serious. This place is creepy y’all. Let’s go.” 

Gansey grinned at Adam and fist bumped with him. “Let’s go. Nino’s anyone?” 

Adam shook his head and gave a small laugh. Gansey hadn’t heard Adam laugh so much before. It filled him with joy. “I’m still not gonna eat anything,” he joked. 

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” 

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first long haul fic for this fandom. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I loved writing it. I have no clue if I'm gonna continue this with the other books. This one took so long for me to plan around, that it would probably take me forever to do the others. And it's so much effort to create aus. And writing is hard; so that will all be up in the air. And it all matters of course, if you liked it. Won't continue something people don't like. 
> 
> But that's the story! Kudos will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a ton!


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